Court hears Rangers fan thrown through window after supporters bus crash

A Rangers fan has told a jury he was thrown through a window after a supporters' bus overturned on a roundabout.

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 as he and fellow Rangers fans were travelling to Glasgow for a home match against Partick Thistle.

Mr Burns told the High Court in Glasgow that he was travelling on the supporters bus for the first time and was taking a six-year-old boy to his first Rangers game.

They got on the bus at Sanquhar and Mr Burns said that the driver later in the journey had to double back at Cumnock to collect up two passengers that had not been picked up.

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 Phillips, said that he grabbed hold of the 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 that he was on the Nith Valley Rangers supporters bus when it crashed.

He said: “When we approached the roundabout the bus was shaking. The driver was approaching it quite fast. 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.

He managed to crawl out and suffered scarring to his forehead as he was dragged along half out the window before the bus come to a halt.

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.

Prosecutors claim he lost control of the bus at Crossroads Roundabout, causing it to skid then strike a kerb, drain cover and a lamp post before coming to rest on its side on the grass verge.

Mr Baird, of Sanquhar, Dumfries-shire, is described as being so badly hurt that he never recovered.

Other fans on the bus are also said to have been injured.

Phillips also faces two other charges of driving dangerously at the wheel of a bus.

It is alleged he drove dangerously in early 2016 in New Cumnock, East Ayrshire and struck a kerb after approaching a roundabout at speed.

He is also accused of driving without due care and attention in August 2016 near Rangers' Ibrox Stadium by going round a corner at excessive speed.

Phillips denies all the charges against him.

The trial before Lady Stacey continues.