A father has said he is glad he and his son are alive after the bus they were traveling home in from a football match in Glasgow caught fire on the A9.
Jayson Dempsey was traveling home to Perth with his teenage son, Ryan, after Saturday’s Scottish Cup semi-final match between St Johnstone and Celtic at Hampden when the bus went up in flames just 20 miles from their destination at around 9.30pm.
READ MORE: Five people in hospital after bus catches fire on busy Scots motorway
“It was horrifying. We could see flames coming up the side of the bus and feel the heat,” Jayson, 43, told The Herald. “There was a real toxic smell in the bus that we’d noticed at the beginning that just kept getting worse.
“Everyone tried to pile out in a panic – I just looked around and thought ‘this bus is going to explode’.”
The St Johnstone fan, who was in the private-hire bus with around 60 other supporters, described the moment he and his son suffered injuries to their hands while beating down windows in an attempt to escape the blaze, which he said engulfed the vehicle in just 20 minutes.
The bus had pulled over on the A9 flyover near Auchterarder, with police, fire and ambulances crews quickly descending on the scene.
“Me and another guy smashed the window beside us with our feet and hands, and then pushed the shattered glass out,” he said.
“Normally as a parent, you’d get your kid out first, but it was so high up that I jumped down so I could catch him.”
But when Jayson began shouting and screaming for his son, Ryan, he didn’t get a reply.
“I couldn’t help it, I got this really bad feeling when I couldn’t see him,” he said. “I was shouting and screaming, but he wasn’t there.”
His fear was short-lived when Ryan appeared beside him on the road. The quick-thinking 16-year-old had been attempting to break through the window in the ceiling, and had broken his hand while trying to punch through.
❗️UPDATE⌚️ 10.25#A9 N/B off-slip at A823 (for Gleneagles) remains closed following a vehicle fire last last night.@SETrunkRoads pic.twitter.com/jM7JeuwL9Q
— Traffic Scotland (@trafficscotland) November 21, 2021
The pair were taken to Perth Royal Infirmary with injuries to their hands, along with several others. In total, five people were sent to hospital with non-serious injuries.
“Looking back, everybody got out safely – but you just didn’t know,” he said. “I have some bad cuts to my hands, and there was glass in them from the window.
"The driver did everything he could, he was brilliant."
The road remains closed more than 12 hours after the incident, and Traffic Scotland is urging people to avoid the area and seek different routes.
A police spokeswoman told The Herald: "Officers attended to help with road closures, alongside the fire service and ambulance service.
"There were not believed to be any serious injuries and five people were taken to hospital as a precaution."
The Herald has approached the bus company for comment.
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