"This car came straight down Fox St, and we were on a bit of an angle, he came around us.
"I could see our driver, stand up, looking worried."
The "hit" happened so suddenly most of the bus passengers didn't notice.
"Then people came running across, out of the fire station."
She said the driver got out of the car and did not look badly hurt.
"The back of the car had been hit, the window was smashed."
She said their children were "very well behaved" but quite excited.
"We had just been talking to them about stopping at crossings.
"We had just said, it would be breaking the law - and the next minute, someone had gone across.
"It was the perfect lesson for the kids."
Martinborough constable Jaco Pieterse said the elderly man was extremely shaken and very lucky he wasn't injured.
He confirmed the driver had overtaken a vehicle waiting to cross.
"The train has just clipped the side of the car ... he's a bit shaken and shocked."
He said in the five years he had worked in the region he hadn't heard of any accidents at the site of yesterday's crash before but not stopping for flashing warning signals at railway crossings was becoming a major concern.
"People take chances. It's such a dangerous thing to do."
No further information was available.
