A bus driver has been praised for his quick thinking after using his vehicle to stop a rolling car careering down a hill in Falmouth.
Police have said if it was not for Robert Walker's actions the incident could have had disastrous consequences.
It was during rush hour yesterday that he was travelling up the one way part of Killigrew Street with the 88 service when he spotted a car coming towards him.
He beeped a number of times and then realised there was no driver so manoeuvred the bus into the middle of the road in a bid to stop the car.
There were some passengers on board at time, but no one was hurt.
PC Dave Jephcott said: "Who knows what could have happened. As it is one way, people are not necessarily looking for things coming down that hill.
"If Mr Walker had not done what he did, the geographic of Killigrew would have meant the vehicle would have picked up speed heading towards the Moor which could have had disastrous consequences.
"There was a lot of traffic around at the time and it did cause a bit of chaos."
The car had been parked just above the Trelawney Road junction and appears to have suffered handbrake failure.
PC Jephcott said luckily it was travelling very slowly and had moved about 20 feet when Mr Walker got to it.
The driver, who was staying in a nearby bed and breakfast heard the commotion and discovered it was his hire car that had been involved.
Police said he was shaken. The matter has been reported to the hire company for investigation.
A spokesman for First, which Mr Walker works for, said "The police have commended the actions of our driver. We are similarly pleased that our driver was able to assist in preventing a more serious collision.
"Our bus did sustain damage and while passengers on board were transferred to other services, it was taken back to the depot for some repair work.
"By the end of the day the bus had been repaired and it has been back on the road as normal since then."
