BUS drivers fear someone could be killed in a controversial bus lane, after two teenagers were involved in accidents in two days.

A 14-year-old pedestrian was left with an arm injury after a collision with a bus in the lane, in Chichester Road, opposite Victoria Plaza, Southend.

He was taken to Southend Hospital after the accident.

The incident follows another on Monday, when Chantelle Gay, 17, of Guildford Road, Southend, was in a collision with another bus and suffered cuts and bruises.

An Arriva bus driver, who asked not to be named, said he believed the lane had been an accident waiting to happen ever since it was introduced. He explained: "People don't realise it's two-way now and a lot of people cross without looking.

"Someone's going to get killed. Cars have been pulling out there, not realising they are in the wrong lane."

He said Chichester Road was a problem generally, with some motorists so confused they even tried to drive into the buses-only area at the bus station.

The driver added: "It's a nightmare - the whole bus station and the way it's laid out and the crossings.

"People walk out directly across the path of the buses and you have to brake.

"It also affects the passengers on the bus.

"Whoever designed it needs to be hung, drawn and quartered."

The bus lane runs across the central reservation of Queens-way and into Chichester Road.

It replaced the previous one-way system in April.

Paul Mathieson, group manager of Southend Council's transport policy group, said he would meet police and road safety officers to examine the situation.

He added: "From what I can establish, both were very much accidents and it seems to be the case that teenagers weren't looking, or if they did look, they misjudged the speed of the bus.

"Teenagers cross the road all over the place and we have accidents all over the town."

Chris Robinson, manager of Presto Shoe Repairs, opposite the bus lane, said it was just a matter of people getting used to the new layout.

He added: "I haven't seen many accidents at all and I'm here all the time.

"I've done it myself - I've gone to cross the road and forgotten to look. It'll get better when people are more aware of it."

However, bus-user Vicky Cooper, 61, of South Avenue, Southend, said she understood how accidents could happen. She said: "It's not only bus drivers who have been using that lane.

"I've seen white vans going through there as well."