Trial told driver shouted ‘no brakes’
BY WILMA RILEY reporters@dailyrecord.co.uk A PASSENGER has told a jury that a bus which crashed, killing a Rangers fan, was like “a roller coaster”.
Philip Storrie, 53, from Kirkconnel, Dumfriesshire, was giving evidence at the trial of Callum Phillips, who denies causing 39-year-old Ryan Baird’s death by dangerous driving.
Ryan, from Sanquhar, Dumfriesshire, died in October 2016 in the crash at Crossroads roundabout, near Kilmarnock, as he and 36 fellow Rangers fans were travelling to Glasgow.
Rail worker Philip told the High Court in Glasgow yesterday: “We came round the roundabout like a roller coaster. The bus rocked left and right.” Prosecutor Richard Goddard asked: “The bus struck a lamp post and ended up on its side, is that correct?”
Philip said: “That’s right.” He climbed out of the bus and saw Ryan. Philip added: “I tried to get a pulse and there was no pulse.”
Another passenger on the Nith Valley Rangers Supporters’ Club bus, ex-HGV driver Samuel Nesbit, 62, told the court that just before the crash, he heard Phillips shout: “No brakes, no brakes.”
He said the driver was going “far too fast”.
Caitlin Hamilton, 23, from Sanquhar, told the court she was driving on the A76 but could not keep up with the bus.
She said: “I was three cars behind it. I was doing 60mph to 63mph and it was bound to be going at 70mph because it was pulling away from me.’”
The court has heard there was a 50mph speed limit for buses on the A76.
Phillips, 49, of Dalbeattie, Kirkcudbrightshire, denies two other charges of driving a bus dangerously. The trial continues.