ELDERLY widow Lily Mulkeen had an amazing escape yesterday when a runaway bus plunged through her garden.

The 10-ton bus demolished her hedge, flattened the garden and came to rest just two inches from the wall of her house in Torquay.

The 85-year-old was eating breakfast and watching TV just before 9am yesterday when the Stagecoach single-decker crashed.

Mrs Mulkeen, who is crippled with arthritis and housebound, was sitting on the other side of the wall in her living room when the number 32 bus demolished her hedge and flattened her front garden.

She said: "It's such a shame, because I'd got it looking so nice before this bus comes along and spoils it all."

Witnesses said the bus driver had just cleared passengers from the bus at the bottom of Raleigh Avenue when it started to roll across Queensway and into Mrs Mulkeen's house.

The driver managed to leap back on to the slowly moving bus but was not able to stop it ploughing into the garden.

There were reports a young woman in a black dress was almost struck by the rolling vehicle which also missed cars parked nearby.

Mrs Mulkeen's home carer Tracy Cook was in the kitchen at the time.

She said: "I heard this sound like a big rumbling noise before seeing the bus come through the hedge and stop two inches from the wall.

"Lily was sitting down in her chair eating her porridge and watching television.

"She stayed there and finished her breakfast."

Mrs Mulkeen, who used to live in nearby Oxenham Green and whose husband Larry died 10 years ago, added: "Tracy told me that a bus had crashed into the garden.

"I told her not to be so daft because I didn't see anything. I didn't even pull the blinds back to see.

"When Tracy took a look I was quite shocked. I was a bit shaken. But I finished my breakfast."

Tracy said she immediately rang 999 after checking the driver was all right.

She said: "I rang for an ambulance and asked the driver, who was also on the phone, if he was OK. He gestured that he was."

Local resident Eddie Harvey was just moving his van outside his Raleigh Avenue home when he saw the drama unfold.

He said: "The bus was still ticking over and the driver was outside when it started to move off.

"The driver legged in to get back on board but he could not stop the crash.

"There was a young woman on the pavement in a black dress who had to move a bit sharpish, although the bus was only moving slowly."

Nine-year-old Shaun McKernan was walking to catch the bus near the junction with Ben Jonson Close when he saw it crash.

"I saw it roll across the road and miss the house by just a few inches," he said.

Kevin Hamlyn, who lives at 87 Queensway just up from the affected property at 79, said: "It's lucky no cars were in the path of the bus."

Mrs Mulkeen said: "I just hope they get the bus out of my garden without any further damage. I don't want it rolling back here again."

A recovery vehicle removed the vehicle from its resting point just before midday.

Police, paramedics and firefighters attended the incident.

A fire spokesman admitted: "It was close, but no one was injured in the incident. We understand there had been a fault on the bus and the driver got everyone out before it rolled off. We made the vehicle safe."

A police spokesman: "The bus was taped off before being recovered just before midday. No one was hurt."

A Stagecoach spokesman commented: "We can confirm that an incident involving service 32 occurred in Raleigh Avenue, Torquay.

"We are treating this incident very seriously and have instigated a thorough investigation of what happened. Thankfully no passengers were aboard the vehicle at the time and the driver is unharmed.

"We can offer no further comment at this time as we must wait until the investigation has been completed.

"However, we would like to assure Mrs Mulkeen that we will do everything possible to help her restore her garden to its former glory and we will therefore be in touch in due course."