Heroic bus driver stopped ram- raid thieves from escaping with store ATM

A bus driver and passengers helped stop a smash-andgrab gang from stealing a cash machine in Edinburgh’s West End by blocking the getaway car and calling police.

The balaclava- wearing men had torn an ATM from the wall of the Sainsbur y’s store in S hand wick Place about 3:30 am yesterday, using a chain attached to a stolen luxury SUV.

But after being confronted by the driver and passengers, the thieves drove off towards Haymarket Terrace in the Audi Q5, leaving the damaged ATM behind in the street.

Passenger Jake Buchanan, 24, was on the N25 at the time. He said: “If we hadn’t turned up, they would’ ve got away with that machine.”

The bus, carrying two other people heading towards Waverley, and pulled into a stop opposite the store as the drama unfolded.

“There was a car parked a bit squint and then we saw the smashed windows ,” Mr Buchanan, an ex-security steward from Gilmerton, said. “Three men were inside the shop who’d smashed their way in. They had their hoods up and faces covered up, carrying massive crowbars. There was a thick chain around the machine and they ripped it out.”

Mr Buchanan said the quick- thinking bus driver then manoeuvred his vehicle into the path of the £ 40,000 Audi, while radioing for help.

Detectives believe the Audi Q5 used in the raid was stolen from Inch keith Crescent in Kirkcaldy between midnight and 4am on Tuesday.