A bus driver brought mayhem to a quiet residential street in Jericho as he lost control of his vehicle, leaving a trail of wrecked cars in his wake.

Residents of Cranham Street were getting ready for a quiet evening in on Saturday when their peace was shattered by the sound of several crashes.

They were left gaping at a line of battered cars, which had been parked outside the Victorian terraced properties.

Seven of them had been shunted into each other.

Sitting at the wheel of his empty Thames Travel route 103 single-decker was the shocked driver, who appeared to have lost control as he turned right from Canal Street and found a vehicle parked on double-yellow lines just around the corner.

As he aimed for the gap, he first clipped a Vauxhall Astra's out-turned front wheel, bursting the tyre and hitting the rear nearside quarter.

He then struck a Seat Leon, which was pushed backwards, resulting in further damage to a Mazda 121, Peugeot 205, BMW 3 Series and two Volkswagen Golfs.

One car was pushed on to the narrow pavement, but no-one was walking in the street at the time, and no-one was hurt.

Susanna Pressel, the city councillor for Jericho and west Oxford, who came across the scene shortly afterwards, said: "It was a scene of mayhem.

"It was very fortunate that there was no-one in the street, or children playing, at the time.

"People there are saying that the buses used on that route are too big.

"We used to have the 'Nipper'-types buses, but the firm that won the contract last time has bigger vehicles.

"I'm going to try to get Oxfordshire County Council to bring in smaller ones."

One resident, cyclist Peter Stalker, who supplied this picture for the Oxford Mail, said: "It sounded like something landing from the sky. Mercifully, no-one was on the pavement."

Liza Picard, whose Astra was the first car to be hit, said: "I thought I heard a funny noise, and then like the rest of Cranham Street, came outside to find what had happened. It was very unfortunate."

Another resident, who wanted simply to be known as 'Tosh', said his motorcycle had been spared as it would normally have been parked between the cars that were hit.

"I'm glad I took the bike to work instead," he said.

A police spokesman said: "It appears the driver clipped a parked car and then lost control.

"Several of the cars were write-offs.

"The 65-year-old driver, who was shaken, has been reported for careless driving, and will either go to court or on a driver improvement course."