A rail worker today told a jury that a Rangers supporters bus which crashed killing a fan was like 'a roller coaster' as it entered a roundabout.
Philip Storrie, 53, from Kirkconnel in Dumfriesshire, was was giving evidence at the trial of bus driver Callum Phillips who denies killing 39-year-old Ryan Baird by dangerous driving.
Phillips, 49, from Dalbeattie, Dumfries, is alleged to have caused the supporters bus to crash at the Crossroads Roundabout, near Kilmarnock, on October 1, 2016.
Ryan Baird, from Sanquhar, Dumfries-shire, died as he and 36 fellow Rangers fans were travelling to Glasgow for a home match against Partick Thistle with a three pm kick-off. He was trapped in the wreckage after the bus collided with a lamp post and rolled over onto its side.
In evidence, Storrie told the High Court in Glasgow that he heard someone say “Whoa” about 100 yards from the roundabout.
He added: “It became apparent to me we were approaching it too fast. I said the bus is going to cowp here.”
Prosecutor Richard Goddard asked Mr Storrie: “What did you do,” and he replied: “There was a window and I braced myself against it. We came round the roundabout like a roller coaster fashion. The bus rocked to the left and to the right.”
Mr Goddard said: “It was like you were on a roller coaster,” and the witness replied: “Yes, just at that point.”
He then asked: “The bus then struck a lamp post and ended up on its side, is that correct,” and Storrie replied: “That's right.”
Storrie said he clambered out of the bus and saw Ryan Baird lying half in and half out of the bus..
He added: “I tried to get a pulse and there was no pulse.”
Storrie said that he told someone and they shouted to paramedics who came over a and took over.”
Meat factory worker Samuel Nesbit, 62, told the court that seconds before the crash he heard Phillips shout “No brakes, no brakes.”
Samuel Nesbit, from Dumfrieshire, who was formerly an HGV driver, said that he was sitting three rows behind Phillips and added: “Maybe about 50 yards from the roundabout the driver was standing up, holding on to the steering wheel and shouting 'no brakes, no brakes.'”
He was asked about the manner of Phillips driving during the journey and replied: It was fast.”
When asked about Phillips approach to the roundabout he replied: “It was far too fast.”
Nesbit said after the crash it was chaos in the bus with people shouting and swearing and a number of people covered in blood. And added: “It was hectic.”
Mr Goddard asked: “During the course of the journey the driver went round seven roundabouts, stopped to pick up passengers and stopped at temporary traffic lights just three quarters of a mile from the crash site, did there appear to be any problem with the brakes on those occasions,” and Nesbit replied: “No.”
Defence counsel Simon Gilbride asked Nesbit: 'Did it look as if Mr Phillips was pumping the brakes, did he seem quite panicked,” and the witness replied: “Well, I think so yes.”
John Campbell, 69, from Sanquhar, told the jury that he was sitting at the back of the bus whenit crashed.
He said: “I was knocked over by someone else. I finished up on top of the man who died.”
John Campbell said he was knocked unconscious and when he came to a fire fighter was walking towards him.
The court heard that fire fighters had to stabilise the bus and built a platform before they could remove John Campbell from the bus. He suffered a bruised leg and deep cuts to his arms and needed skin grafts.
The trial before judge Lady Stacey continues.
