11:21am UK, Saturday July 23, 2005

The driver of the bombed number 26 bus told how he feared a repeat of the carnage at Tavistock Square.

The bus was going to Hackney Wick, East London - the same destination as the double-decker that exploded two weeks ago, killing 14 people.

180 2lterror bus hackney

Driver:

Mark Maybanks, 38, told The Sun newspaper how he hit the brakes seconds after the explosion, which came from a rucksack abandoned on the top deck.

He then looked in the periscopic mirror to the top deck and saw passengers hurrying down the stairs.

"I went upstairs and there was a funny smell - I had never smelt anything like it before. There was smoke in the air."

He said he was terrified when he saw the black rucksack and thought it was a bomb package.

"I've never been so frightened as when I went up the stairs. After what happened earlier this month, I didn't know what I would find."

Nobody was hurt in the explosion, which happened as the bus turned at the junction of Hackney Road and Columbia Road in Shoreditch.