The 16-year-old boy hit by a car in High Street, Barkingside, yesterday evening flew metres into the air before hitting the back of a bus, according to a witness.

Yaniv Halperin was walking on the pavement past KFC when the accident happened at around 6.10pm.

He said: “I heard a huge bang and when I looked up I saw him flying through the air, he was nearly the height of a double-decker bus.

“He hit the back of the 462 bus at the stop and landed about 10ft away from me.

“I felt sick but I managed to pull myself together and call the police.”

Mr Halperin, 22, said the teenager was “joking around” and talking as he lay in the road waiting for the ambulance.

He added: “He was lying crooked but he wasn’t bleeding. He was very lucky.”

The boy was treated for minor injuries and taken as a priority to Whipps Cross Hospital, Leytonstone.

Firefighter Tony Cook, who was at the scene with crews from Hainault Fire Station, said the teenager had been crossing the road when he was hit.

The driver of the car stopped at the scene.