Passenger grabbed steering wheel and forced bus to crash
AN irate passenger grabbed the steering wheel of a bus and deliberately crashed it as a bizarre protest against the driver.
Stephen Allan was so unhappy with the way in which the McGill’s coach was being driven that he reached in to the driver’s cab and pulled on the steering wheel.
His actions caused the vehicle to leave the road and crash through a fence next to a school. The wrecked bus eventually stopped in a field, causing damage estimated at more than £16,000.
No one was injured in the collision but Allan, 37, has now been jailed for the incident.
Procurator fiscal depute Fiona Holligan told Paisley Sheriff Court Allan and his fiancée had boarded the bus in Paisley town centre on December 30. The coach was was heading for Barrhead, East Renfrewshire, she added.
The prosecutor said: ‘About 9.20pm the accused approached the driver. He was angry and confronted the driver, stating he was “going a bit too fast over the speed bumps back there”.
‘The driver believed the accused to be under the influence of something.’
The coach driver pulled in on Hurlet Road, Paisley, to let Allan’s fiancée disembark, but Allan remained on board and went on to sabotage the vehicle.
Mrs Holligan said: ‘He reached over and grabbed the steering wheel and pulled it hard to the left.
‘This caused the bus to leave the carriageway, mount the pavement, crash through a metal fence at the school, narrowly missing a lamp post and several trees, before it came to rest in a field.’
Allan fled from the scene near Kersland Primary School and the driver contacted police, who tracked Allan down following a public appeal.
The cost of repairing the damaged vehicle was £16,633, while prosecutors could not say how much it cost to fix the fence.
Allan admitted culpable and reckless conduct by reaching in to the cab, grabbing the steering wheel and causing the bus to crash.
The charge added that Allan’s behaviour placed both bus passengers and pedestrians in the immediate area ‘in danger of serious injury or death’.
Defence solicitor Terry Gallanagh told the court Allan had written a letter in which he described his actions as ‘the single most stupid, reckless, dangerous and irresponsible’ thing he had ever done.
The lawyer added: ‘He wishes me to apologise sincerely and publicly to all concerned – the driver, the other passengers and the owners of the bus.’
He said Allan’s life had been blighted by alcohol addiction, that he had been drunk at the time, and had lost his job as a result of being remanded in custody over the case.
Sheriff Colin Pettigrew ruled there was only on way he could deal with Allan and jailed him for 27 months, reduced from 40 months as the accused had admitted his guilt over what the sheriff described as his ‘reprehensible actions’.
The sheriff added: ‘I don’t think I can do anything other than agree with you – it was stupid, reckless, dangerous and irresponsible.
‘The court has to mark the offence with a custodial disposal – there can be no other disposal.’
McGill’s, which began operating in 1949, has a fleet of 400 vehicles based in five depots in the west of Scotland.
The company, which is the largest independent bus firm north of the Border, has almost 1,000 employees.
In the summer of 2015, the company announced ambitious plans to double in size by 2020.
‘Dangerous and irresponsible’