A MOTORCYLIST is critically ill after a crash with a bus carrying schoolchildren in Strood.

The 19-year-old rider is in a Tunbridge Wells hospital after being transferred from Medway Maritime Hospital because there were no intensive care unit beds available.

The accident happened outside the Coach And Horses pub at the junction with Gravesend Road.

The bus was turning into the junction when the accident happened. Eye-witnesses said the motorcyclist hit a side window, which shattered, showering glass over many of the teenage passengers on board. Some children were slightly hurt.

The motorcyclist was taken to Kent and Sussex Hospital after his condition worsened.

A spokesman for Medway Maritime Hospital said: "None of the patients in the hospital's nine-bedded intensive care unit are sufficently well at present to be transferred to a ward.

"As a result Medway NHS Trust regrets that it was necessary to transfer a trauma patient to the Kent and Sussex Hospital at Tunbridge Wells yesterday.

"Geographically this was the nearest available intensive care bed. The Trust is very sorry for any inconvenience that this caused the patient's family and friends. We will endeavour to transfer the patient back to Medway at the earliest practicable opportunity."

Kevin Hawkins, commercial director for Arriva Southern Counties, said: "We are of course co-operating with police and other relevant authorities whilst they investigate the cause of the incident."