Bus driver guilty of causing death of Rangers fan

A speeding bus driver has been convicted of killing a Rangers fan in a crash.

49 year-old Callum Phillips was driving at speeds of up to 73mph shortly before the collision which took the life of 39-year-old Ryan Baird.

The bus, which had 37 passengers on board from the Nith Valley Rangers supporters' club on board aged from six to 60, was described as 'like a roller coaster' as it entered Crossroads Roundabout on the A76 near Kilmarnock around 1pm on October 1, 2016.

It smashed into a lamp post and then skidded along on its side before coming to a halt.

One passenger Heather Geddes, 25, who was on the bus as a birthday treat, described Phillips as' 'flying down the road with his foot to the floor.”

Mr Baird , from Sanquhar, died trapped in the wreckage, Graeme Slider, 30, from Dumfries-shire suffered a fractured pelvis, John Campbell, 69, needed skin grafts on his arms and John Torrance suffered fractured ribs and internal bleeding.

Yesterday, as the verdict of guilty to causing the death of Mr Baird by dangerous driving was read out at the High Court in Glasgow Phillips showed no emotion.

Judge Lady Stacey ordered background reports and continued his bail, but toldPhillips: “Do not get your hopes up about the sentence.”

She deferred sentence until next month at the High Court in Glasgow.

Prosecutor Richard Goddard told the court that Phillips has previous convictions including one in 2015 for speeding for which he was fined £200 and given penalty points. He also has a conviction from 2005 for not wearing a seat belt.

The court heard that after the fatal crash he was off work for two months and left the company he had been working for - Brownriggs.

Phillips then got another job as driving when asked what it involved he replied: “Coach driving, just schools.”

He claimed that the brakes on the Iveco bus were not working. But experts from the DVSA and from an Iveco dealership, who examined the brakes, found no defects.

Phillips told police: “I reckon I'm doing 50 at that roundabout. I tried to press the brakes. I pressed the brakes and it didn't work. No brakes. It was not slowing me down like it should have.”

Phillips also disputed the tachograph evidence which showed he drove for considerable periods of the hour-long drive from Thornhill, Dumfries-shire, at 63mph and at one point at 73mph. The speed limit for buses on the A76 is 50mph.

He claimed that his driving had been 'normal' and claimed that no one had ever complained about his driving.He told the officers: “I believed the maximum speed on that bus was 62mph. I don't think I was doing 73mph.

The jury has heard that the speed limit on that road for buses is 50mph.

Phillips admitted in evidence that he never once looked at his speedometer during the journey and claimed that 'everyone drives at 10mph above the speed limit.”

Nursery nurse Caitlin Hamilton, 23, from Sanquhar, who was travelling behind the bus from Mauchline, onwards said: “I remember saying to my mum ''hat bus is going far too fast. I canny catch up.' At that point I was doing 60 to 63 mph. I just thought to myself it was not going to make it round that roundabout. It was just going far too fast.”

Passengers on the bus told the court that Phillips driving was 'erratic and fast” and said he drove even faster after having to double back at Cumnock to pick up two people.

Members of Mr Baird's family including his partner Sarah Hughes were too upset to comment as they left court.

Lady Stacey placed an interim ban on Phillips, who has been a bus driver for 27 years, driving.

Phillips made no comment as he left the court building yesterday.