A bus driver is facing jail for killing a Kent woman during a crash outside Victoria Station in London.

Melissa Burr from Rainham was knocked over whilst she was crossing Terminus Place during the morning of August 10, 2021.

Olusofa Popoola, the 60-year-old driver, had accidentally accelerated into the back of another bus, which was stationary.

It shunted forward and into Melissa Burr, who died from multiple injuries.

The 32-year-old was the first of three pedestrians to cross in front of the line of buses.

Diane Mathuranayagum, another bus driver, suffered a fractured eye socket during the incident.

Popoola admitted causing Ms Burr’s death by careless driving and said he had pressed the accelerator instead of the brake by mistake.

Today, a jury cleared Popoola, of Peckham, south-east London, of causing death by dangerous driving and serious injury following a retrial at the Old Bailey.

Previously, prosecutor Robert Evans told how the fatal collision happened.

“The parked bus lurched forward,” he said. “It hit Ms Burr, who was propelled up and forward. The people behind her jumped backwards out of the way.

“The driver of the parked bus, Ms Mathuranayagum, was thrown out of the door of the parked bus and on to the pavement.

“The driverless parked bus continued to go forward; it ran over Ms Burr, who ended up under the bus and she very sadly died as a consequence of the multiple injuries that she received.”

‘I was in a state of shock. I could not believe what had happened...’

An off-duty police officer on the bus was also thrown to the floor and suffered minor injuries, the court was told.

In a prepared statement, Popoola said: “I felt a big collision out of nowhere. I think out of shock, I may have applied my accelerator more firm instead of the brake. I think I believed that I was pressing the brake.

“I think I pressed the brake eventually to bring my vehicle to a stop but the collision had already taken place.

“I was in a state of shock. I could not believe what had happened.

“I remained seated for around a minute. I did not think anyone was hurt, just that I had caused damage to the vehicles.”

A crash investigation concluded the defendant had continued to apply the accelerator pedal, rather than a foot brake, after impact with the stationary bus before finally using the parking brake to stop.

Data from his vehicle found it was travelling at around 8mph at the point of collision and reached a peak speed moments earlier of 10mph.

Jurors were shown distressing CCTV footage of the incident to assess how Popoola drove.

There was no suggestion that Popoola, a bus driver for 20 years, had deliberately driven dangerously, but the prosecution argued that his actions that day fell below the standard of a careful and competent motorist.

The jury at the Old Bailey deliberated for 11 hours to reach its verdicts.

Judge Rebecca Trowler KC adjourned sentencing until Friday, November 10 and ordered a pre-sentence report to be prepared by the probation service.

Popoola was granted continued conditional bail until his sentencing hearing at the Old Bailey.