A BUS which plunged off a bridge, killing a schoolgirl, was going too fast in the run-up to the crash, according to a witness.

Lorry driver Nigel Abbott, 41, had been driving behind the coach when it crashed and killed passenger Natasha Paton, 17, on the A73 near Biggar, South Lanarkshire, in March 2010.

He was hailed a hero after alerting emergency services and rescuing survivors from the scene, before giving them shelter inside his truck.

Natasha, from Cleghorn village near Lanark, died after the bus collided with a bridge and tumbled down an embankment. Raymond Munro, 63, was at the wheel of the coach taking 39 pupils and staff to Alton Towers.

Mr Abbott told the fatal accident inquiry at Lanark Sheriff Court he became concerned about Mr Munro's driving a few miles earlier.

He said: "The vehicle would brake in the middle of a corner which you don't do. I didn't like his chances of keeping it on the road. In my opinion it was going too quickly."

The inquiry before Sheriff Nikola Stewart continues.