Coach Driver Accused of Knocking Down Cyclist
A coach driver has been accused of causing the death of a cyclist by knocking him down because he failed to keep a proper lookout on the road.
Cyclist Robert Don, 53, died in hospital nine days after the alleged collision with the passenger bus on the outskirts of Perth.
Today at Perth Sheriff Court, bus driver Andrew Blyth, 52, denied causing Mr Don's death by driving his coach carelessly on the A9 on 30 December 2013.
The court was told that Blyth was carrying 19 passengers at the time of the accident and that the Crown was investigating the practicality of tracing those passengers to call them as witnesses.
Blyth, from Hamilton, pled not guilty to causing the death of Mr Don, from Perth, by driving carelessly near the Inveralmond roundabout on the outskirts of Perth.
He denied failing to keep a proper lookout for other road users, whereby he collided with the cyclist who subsequently died in Ninewells Hospital in Dundee on 8 January 2014.
Counsel for Blyth, Susan Duff, told the court: "He was driving the bus with 19 passengers on board and they were spoken to by the police at the time.
"It is not clear if statements were taken from them. The procurator fiscal is taking steps to find out. It was two years ago and passengers on a bus may not be easy to track down.
"Other people stopped after the accident and they also provided details, but it's also not clear if statements were taken from them."
She asked for the case to be put off to allow for further investigation of Mr Don's medical records as he had spent several days in hospital before dying.
The trial was put off and will now take place in October.
Blyth is understood to have been driving an Edinburgh-bound coach from Inverness when a collision allegedly occurred around 5pm. At the time of his death, Mr Don's family said he would be greatly missed.