Ian pops up with new rugby ball
West Coast Motors bus driver Ian MacGillivray has been heaped with praise after an act of generosity.
The driver of the 926 Campbeltown to Glasgow service was at Inveraray on the evening of Sunday April 11 when a rugby ball being used by some lads on the front green rolled past the front of his bus. Ian didn't know, however, that it had bounced off a wall and landed under a rear wheel. He moved off and – with a loud pop – it was no more.
Feeling bad, he later posted on Facebook to try and find the lads to offer them a new ball.
The response was phenomenal as his message was shared 300 times and received 79 comments by midweek.
Ian eventually tracked down the ball’s owner, Archie MacColl-Smith, who had been there with pals Kory Kirkhope, Angus MacAskill, Finlay Macgregor and Lachlan O'Connel.
Archie said: ‘When it popped it sounded like a gun going off.
‘Ian got in contact with me and said he has a gift to give us on his next trip through Inveraray, which is very generous of him considering it was our fault.’
He joked: ‘Lachlan was the one with the dodgy kick that ended up under the bus. He will not be in the starting team when we are able to play rugby again.’ Ian remained modest. ‘I’m overwhelmed by the response on Facebook,’ he said ‘and if it makes people smile then that makes me smile.
‘I know how I’d have felt at that age, so I decided to replace the ball for them.’
He hopes to meet the boys today, Friday, to give them a replacement.