Eye-witness Attiq Iqbal was suddenly awoken at around midday by a huge smash and ran out of his home on to Oxford Road, where a blue Nissan Micra and the Purple 17 bus had collided near the corner of Western Elms Avenue.

As a passenger leapt from the damaged bus and rushed to pull a toddler from the smashed car, 43-year-old Mr Iqbal hurried across the road and yanked open the door to make sure the driver was safe.

The woman, believed to be in her late-twenties or early-thirties, was drifting in and out of consciousness and crying out for her son.

Mr Iqbal told The Chronicle that he tried to comfort her until firefighters and paramedics arrived to free her from the car.

He added: “I was asleep in my back room when I heard a loud impact. It was quite a shock. As soon as I heard the crash I knew what it was.

“I ran out in my shorts and saw the car and the bus. The lady was in shock so I pulled the door open and undid her safety belt.

“The car was smoking and she was in pain and couldn’t move.”

Firefighters from Dee Road and Caversham Road used hydraulic cutting equipment to free the woman from the car.

She was then rushed to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford with neck, shoulder, chest and abdominal injuries.

The bus driver was taken to the Royal Berkshire Hospital as a precaution but none of the passengers were injured. Mr Iqbal said: “I hope she’s okay. She was fainting and had blood on her arm.

“She was shouting out to her child so I tried to comfort her and stop her panicking.”

Oxford Road was shut in both directions between the Beresford Road junction and the Western Elms Avenue junction for nearly three hours and traffic was diverted via Russell Street, Tilehurst Road, Water Road and Grovelands Road until recovery crews cleared the scene.

A spokesman for Reading Buses said the firm is monitoring the health of its driver and will offer all the support they need. He added: “The extent of both drivers’ injuries are unknown, but we hope that any injuries are minor ones.”