A RANGERS supporter told a jury he was thrown through a window after a supporters’ bus overturned on a roundabout killing a fellow fan.
John Burns, 63, from Sanquhar, was giving evidence at the trial of bus driver Callum Phillips who denies killing a Rangers supporter in a fatal crash.
Callum Phillips, 49, from Dalbeattie, Dumfries, is alleged to have caused the death of 39-year-old Ryan Baird by dangerous driving at Crossroads Roundabout, near Kilmarnock, on October 1, 2016.
Mr Baird, from Sanquhar, Dumfries-shire, died while travelling to Glasgow for a home match against Partick Thistle.
Prosecutor Richard Goddard asked Mr Burns: “Did you notice any difficulty about the driver’s style of driving,” and the witness replied: “He seemed to get more erratic as if he was trying to make up time. He was right up behind cars. I wasn’t too happy about the driving, but there wasn’t much I could do about it.”
Mr Burns told the jury he became worried as the coach with 37 passengers on board got to within 20 to 30 yards of the Crossroads Roundabout which is south of Kilmarnock.
He added: “I said to myself no way is this bus going round the roundabout. It was going too fast to take the roundabout.”
The witness, who was sitting about five rows behind the driver, said that he grabbed hold of his six-year-old boy and held on to him.
Mr Burns added: “The bus seemed to swing. The next thing I remembers is branches of trees hitting the windscreen and I was thrown threw the window on the passenger side.”
The court was told that Mr Burns’ back was covered in cuts from broken glass. The boy was not injured, but still suffers nightmares.
Earlier a 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the jury the bus was "shaking" as it approached the roundabout.
He said: “I thought at that speed going round the roundabout was not feasible.”
The teenager said that the was “a lot of rumbling and shaking” and then the bus hit a lamp post before landing on its side on the banking.
The schoolboy added: “The window was smashed and I managed to crawl out. Everyone was shocked people were trapped under the bus. I saw someone stuck and covered in blood.”
Phillips is alleged to have driven the bus at “excessive speed” on various roads at Thornhill, Sanquhar and Kirkconnel, Dumfries-shire, New Cumnock, Cumnock and Mauchline.
Phillips denies all the charges against him.
The trial before Lady Stacey continues.
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