Watch: Man tasered by police after threatening bus passengers with ‘unknown substance’

Police were called to a bus in Croydon on Sunday night as a man reportedly threatened fellow passengers with an unknown substance.

Passengers and the driver were evacuated from the bus, police said late on Sunday. The substance was not thrown at anyone and there were no injuries.

Video obtained by the Telegraph showed the suspect sitting one row from the back of the bus on the top deck before he was tasered by officers.

“We watched the whole thing, right there at the bus stop,” a resident said. “The bus got stopped outside by armed police. They were hanging around outside for ages and then more police came, the fire engines came and then they were just waiting for a specialist unit.

“They told him to get off the bus about five times and he didn’t and they went up and they tasered him. He was calm.”

Others said they looked out their window to see queues of buses and a huge police presence.

“I looked out the window and there was a queue of buses right up and down the road,” another resident said. “There were lots of police, in various outfits, we later heard a man had been threatening people with acid.”

London Road was closed to the public from around 8.30pm as police responded to the situation.

A video shared on social media showed several police officers in blue all-in-one suits attending the scene.

A police statement said: “There is currently a police presence in London Road, Thornton Heath. We were called to the location shortly after 8.30pm to reports of a man threatening bus passengers with an unknown substance. The substance has not been thrown at anyone and nobody is injured.

“All passengers and the driver have left the bus.”