Early morning drama as bus ends up in garden

ACCIDENT: Coach and van collide resulting in vehicle landing on front lawn

A bus crashed into an Angus woman’s front garden after it collided with a van and tore through a fence.

There were no passengers on the Stagecoach bus at the time but the female driver had to be cut free by firefighters after the vehicle ended up on Alison McLeod’s front lawn in Arbroath.

The driver sustained a head injury and was taken by ambulance to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee following the accident on the Westway at around 9am yesterday.

The single-decker staff shuttle bus collided with a double glazing van before ripping through the fence and shrubbery of the house in Scott Gardens.

Mrs McLeod, 65, returned from walking her three dogs to find the bus in her garden and a rescue operation under way to free the driver.

She said: “A neighbour helped me get the dogs inside and out of the way.

“Wood and shrubs can be replaced – I’m just glad nobody was seriously hurt.

“I dread to think what might have happened if it had kept going and struck the house.”

She said children would have been walking along the road to school if it had happened 10 minutes earlier.

“I was due to go to the gym at 10am but had to cancel,” she said. “My instructor told me it was the worst excuse he’d ever heard for cancelling an appointment.”

The driver of the van, Garry Myles, 36, from Wellbank, suffered back pain and was treated at the scene by paramedics.

He did not require to be taken to hospital and his passenger, Paul Reid, 36, from Trottick in Dundee, managed to escape without injury.

Garry said: “I tried to steer away from it but we ended up colliding with the bus.

“How I walked away from this with only bruising and feeling a little sore, I don’t know.”

There was also drama further up the Westway after the accident happened.

A lorry driver performed a threepoint turn after police closed the road and completely destroyed a bus shelter.

A spokeswoman for Stagecoach confirmed an investigation has been launched following the bus crash.

She said: “There were no passengers on the bus at the time of the incident.

“However our immediate thoughts are for the welfare of those involved, including our driver. “Safety is our highest priority. “We will assist the police with their inquiries into the incident as well as carrying out our own investigation into the circumstances.”

A Scottish Fire and rescue Service spokeswoman said: “One appliance was sent from Arbroath, one from the Kingsway, one from Balmossie and a heavy rescue unit from Macalpine Road.”

I dread to think what might have happened if it had kept going and struck the house. ALISON MCLEOD

Pictures: Paul Reid. Top: the van occupants who had a narrow escape, Garry Myles, left, and Paul Reid. Above left and centre: the scene of the crash in Scott Gardens. Above right: the bus stop that was destroyed by a lorry performing a three-point turn.