Passengers flee as fire crews tackle bus blaze

PETRIFIED schoolkids were left shaken after they had to be bundled off a public service bus when their coach caught fire.

Around a dozen secondary school children were evacuated from the First Bus vehicle as it passed through Clydebank last night, as flames engulfed the back of the vehicle.

The driver abandoned the bus at the side of the road in Dumbarton Road, near the junction with Cable Depot Road, Clydebank, at about 4.50pm.

Fire crews were then scrambled to attend and managed to put out the blaze, and it’s thought the driver’s quick-thinking and speedy actions resulted in nobody being hurt.

One eye-witness said: “We saw the bus pull in and the driver got all the children off the bus.

“He was shouting, ‘move it, move it!’, then, just as the driver got clear, we could see the flames from the engine at the back.”

Another eye-witness said: “I was driving by and saw the school kids sitting on the grass and the smoke coming from the back of the bus. Then, bang! – I heard an explosion. I think it was the back window blowing out.”

John Gorman, head of operations at First Glasgow, said: “I can confirm our vehicle was involved in a thermal incident on Dumbarton Road earlier this evening.

“We have emergency procedures and training in place for this sort of incident and our driver must be commended for his swift action that prevented any injuries whatsoever. A full internal investigation is now under way to establish the root cause of the incident.”