Bus passengers evacuated after Covid-19 scare

Travellers removed as driver receives alert over possible coronavirus transmission

Passengers had to be removed from a Perthshire bus service after the driver learned he might have been in contact with someone who had coronavirus.

More than a dozen people were ordered off the Number 34 9.11am service as it was travelling between Stanley and Perth on Thursday after the bus driver received the Covid-19 alert.

Among them was passenger Michael Horne, who boarded the service at Luncarty and had only got as far as the other end of the village when the journey came to an abrupt end.

He said: “The bus was 20 minutes late to start with and we got on at the bottom stop in Luncarty, went up to the next one and stopped for five minutes.

“I was on the top deck and went downstairs and all the passengers were off, but he (the driver) hadn’t told upstairs anything.

“I went and asked the driver and he said ‘I think I’ve been in contact with Covid-19’.

“He was standing right next to the exit so we all had to walk past him. But he was wearing a mask when he was outside.”

Michael reckons there were about 15 people on the bus in total and that some had travelled through from Stanley.

Following the incident the driver got back on the vehicle while the passengers waited for another bus to arrive to pick them up.

Stagecoach confirmed the service was stopped abruptly due to information received by the driver during the journey.

A spokesperson for the bus company said: “The safety of our passengers and employees is our top priority and we have strict protocols in place around the management of Covid-19.

“This includes isolation of individuals who have the potential to have been exposed to coronavirus and thorough cleaning of buses with government standard disinfectant in line with public health advice.

“We can confirm that these protocols were followed as a result of the receipt of new information during the journey involving one of our buses from Stanley to Perth on August 20.

“We would like to apologise to customers who were inconvenienced as a result of the termination of this service.

“We will continue to follow government and health organisation rules and guidance in place to manage the virus.”

Passengers were taken off Stagecoach’s Stanley to Perth service after the bus driver was told he may have been in contact with Covid-19.