Wick black ice driver 'deserves award'
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A MAN who witnessed a bus lose control on black ice on a sloping road in Wick said the driver "deserves an award" for managing to avert a more serious accident.
It occurred at 7.05am on Monday when a Stagecoach X99 bus turned down onto Whitechapel Road from High Street and careered down its length after encountering black ice.
Jack O'Brien was heading back to Inverness after visiting relatives in Wick and witnessed the incident.
"He hit black ice on an unsalted road that was like a sheet of glass," Mr O'Brien said.
"The brave actions of a good driver saved the bus with minimal damage and no casualties."
He thought the bus would have gone through the front of the Poundstretcher store but for the fact that the driver "managed to prevent it by turning into the skid and bouncing the bus off a kerb, causing it to change direction".
"It bent the bottom step up so the door didn't open, and damaged two windows on the bus and the guttering fascia of the shop.
"I walked over and helped prise the door open, while a trainee bus driver kicked from the inside and helped calm the passengers."
Mr O'Brien said the driver was in a state of shock and he tried to reassure him that he had done all he could and that the accident had been unavoidable. He then went to the worker gritting the pavement and asked him to treat the road to avoid further accidents.
"He deserves an award, to be honest," Mr O'Brien said of the driver for averting a more serious accident.
The driver, Edward Rowan of Spittal, has many years' experience of driving coaches.
"In all my 50 years of LGV bus driving throughout the UK and in all weathers, I have never had such a fright," he said.
"I honestly thought the bus was going straight through the shop. I managed to get it to turn but she kept sliding into the canopy. It was black ice, the worse type you can drive on, and on a hill too – there was no chance of stopping a 16-ton coach on it."
Mr Rowan said it was "very lucky" there were no injuries, though he admitted that two passengers on the bus were shaken by the incident.
He said that he has done "skid pan" training courses where the objective was to show how a heavy vehicle could cope in a severe skid situation.
"When you are going down that hill with no control and with that shop wall coming towards you, it honestly feels like it takes an eternity. It was probably just 15 seconds but everything was going in slow motion," he said.
Mr Rowan said he felt annoyed that the pavements were being gritted in the area at that time but not the roads.
"Even the police at the scene were surprised at the state of the road and how lucky we were."
The 67-year-old said he was in a state of shock after the accident and, together with the affected passengers, was led into the nearby Norseman Hotel to have a cup of tea and recuperate.
Though he criticised the lack of gritting by the council, Mr Rowan said he had nothing but praise for Stagecoach. "They looked after me well, took me back to the depot and let me go home for the rest of the day," he said.
A spokesperson for Stagecoach North Scotland said: "In the winter months poor road conditions can occasionally impact on our services and we share this disruption information live on our website and through our social media channels.
"We are appreciative of all the work Highland Council does to ensure that roads are safe for all users."
A Highland Council spokesperson said: “As per Highland Council’s winter gritting policy we do not operate a 24-hour service. Our operations, Monday to Saturday, commence at 6am and continue until 9pm. There is no overnight service.
"On Sundays and days classed as public holidays a restricted service is provided which starts at 7am.”
Many local people took to social media to condemn what they saw as a lack of gritting in the town.
