WITNESSES yesterday hailed the heroic actions of an unnamed police officer who raced from Paisley's Royal Alexandra Hospital with a suspicious device found on the suspect taken there on Saturday night.

WITNESSES yesterday hailed the heroic actions of an unnamed police officer who raced from Paisley's Royal Alexandra Hospital with a suspicious device found on the suspect taken there on Saturday night.

The man, believe to be the driver of the Jeep Cherokee, who was in the hospital with severe burns after the airport incident, was found to be wearing something that might have been a suicide bomb.

Bus driver Angela Docherty, 34, driving the 169 bus to Foxbar, saw the officer, dressed in black overalls and what appeared to be a face mask, racing down the driveway from the accident and emergency unit towards the main road.

"He was holding something out in front him in one outstretched hand - it seemed to be a belt or some kind or canister," she said. The suspect item was taken to the extensive open ground of nearby Ferguslie Cricket Club, where a hockey club social function was postponed.

Police said later the device had been examined by experts and found to be safe, and was not believed to be an improvised explosive. The man was last night still in a critical condition, and was under armed police guard. Peter Stewart, an auxiliary nurse said the man was heavily bandaged and looked like he had been in a horrific house fire.

For some hours after the man's arrival, the A&E department was closed to new admissions, with emergency cases diverted to the Southern General Hospital and Western Infirmary in Glasgow.