PEOPLE alighting from a bus in Worcester avoided serious injury when an electrical link box exploded.

The metal lid of the box, which is feet away from the bus stop in Fern Road, St John's, "flew up into the air", according to one resident.

"Anyone standing there would have been killed," said Donald Smith, who lives in Stallard Road.

"A lot of old people get off the bus there, after shopping in St John's, and they also stand there waiting for a bus to take them to the Monarch Drive shops."

He said the metal cover was about three-feet long and "as black as coal".

"Why is the box by a bus stop anyway? It's a time bomb by the bus queue," he said.

The link box, which houses converging underground cables, is about two feet under ground, with a metal covering on top.

The explosion, caused by an underground cable fault, happened at about 10am and left 188 customers without power for one hour.

A crew from Hereford & Worcester Fire Brigade attended the incident and waited for GPU Power UK workmen, who arrived at 10.47am.

A spokeswoman for GPU Power UK said the incident was very unusual, and denied that the cover had "gone flying".

"The top cover, which is made of steel, was dislodged but the workmen didn't think it had moved that much, as it had fallen almost back into place," said publicity officer, Caroline Ling.

"So it's not correct to say it's gone flying. If it had gone flying it would have been three or four-feet away from the hole."

Underground

She added that it was rare that an underground cable fault happened so close to the link box.

Regarding the placement of the link box, she said the bus stop would have been put there afterwards.

"That part of the network has been there for at least 40 years," she said.

"If it were a new development, we wouldn't put a link box close to a bus stop."

Austin Birks, from First Midland Red, said the chances of something like this happening were like being hit by lightning.

"I've never in my life heard of this before," said Mr Birks.