'There was a loud shattering noise and putting my hand to my head it was painted in blood'

An elderly couple have spoken of their trauma after a section of a bus shelter collapsed on them - leaving the wife covered in blood and glass shards.

Doris Pritchard, 88, from Wythenshawe, said she 'felt faint' when recalling the terrifying incident in Trafford, which 'frightened her to death.'

“I’ve never had a bump like it in my life - the pain was terrible,” she said. “There was a loud shattering noise and putting my hand to my head it was painted in blood. I was frightened to death. I was thinking good god, what has happened?”

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Mrs Pritchard and her husband, Edward, 88, were returning home from Sale on 17 October at 11.30am before taking cover at the Hayfield Street bus shelter.

Until suddenly, a sudden bang erupted as the notice board collapsed onto Mr Pritchard and the glass exploded onto Doris - leaving hundreds of fragments of glass in her head, clothes and even her bra.

Recalling the incident, Edward told the MEN: "Within moments of sitting down, all of a sudden, there was this sudden bang. A big notice board had crashed down on us and pushed me down. It hurt a lot.

“Doris had shouted in pain protecting her head with her hand and when pulled away her hair was coated in blood. Inspecting she had so many glass shards in her head.”

Edward made the quick action to get on the bus en route to their local doctors, after speaking to people at the shelter who warned him an ambulance could take much longer.

Thankfully, the bus driver dropped the couple as close to the doctors as possible where the