The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Injured boy didn’t see bus until ‘the last second’, court told
Fife bus driver is accused of dangerous driving after boy is knocked under vehicle
A Fife schoolboy who was injured after being hit by a bus alongside a teenage friend told how he did not see the vehicle until “the last second”.
The 13-year-old was giving evidence at Dunfermline Sheriff Court where bus driver John Morrison is standing trial accused of dangerous driving.
The 59-year-old is also accused of failing to properly observe the area around him while driving the Bay Travel bus in a car park in Dunfermline on February 28 last year.
The boy, who was described as “walking wounded” following the incident, told the court he had been standing next to his friend in the car park in Allan Crescent.
The teenager, who is too young to be identified, said he was “not really paying attention” to the bus as he was watching YouTube videos on his phone.
He told the court he had seen a group of his friends “mucking around” and hitting the side of the bus before the collision happened.
He said: “The bus was coming towards me, I was facing towards it.
“It hit us but I never saw it at the time. At the last second I saw it. People were still knocking on the windows and stuff when the bus was moving.
“I think knocking on the windows was a distraction to the driver.”
The teenager told the court that he had been standing next to his friend within the car park before he was knocked underneath the vehicle before freeing himself.
He said: “I got out from underneath the bus and I saw (the other boy) under the bus.
“I couldn’t see him when I was under it. He was under the wheel. People were phoning ambulances. I was just in shock. I stood around for a bit, about half an hour.
“They checked my back at the hospital. I had a bruise on it.”
When questioned by Morrison’s defence advocate Dana Forbes, the boy denied being part of a group of children who were “egging the bus driver on” and “playing chicken with the bus”.
The teenager, who was 12 at the time of the incident, said the other children’s actions, which included spitting on the moving vehicle, may have been carried out to “intimidate the driver”.
The court heard how the bus headlights were smashed by another child while the other seriously injured child was still trapped underneath it before the police arrived on scene.
The trial continues.
He was under the wheel. People were phoning ambulances. I was just in shock