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Perth drunk terrified passengers by grabbing for bus wheel

Duff was found guilty of a charge of culpable and reckless behaviour at Perth Sheriff Court.
Duff was found guilty of a charge of culpable and reckless behaviour at Perth Sheriff Court.

Terrified revellers were thrown around a packed coach after a drunken young Perth man made a “reckless” grab for its wheel.

The bus was filled to capacity with people returning from a night out at Fat Sams nightclub in Dundee when William Duff made his lunge for the controls.

Shouting “I’m going to drive” at a stunned Lee Buckley, boss of coach hire firm BKL Excursions, the 21-year-old caused the bus to veer around the A90 Dundee to Perth road.

Mr Buckley was forced to kick and push Duff away as he wrestled control of the bus back from his passenger, who was almost insensible through alcohol at the time.

The 21-year-old had denied the offence but following a brief trial at Perth Sheriff Court he was found guilty of endangering the lives of his fellow passengers.

Mr Buckley, 27, told the court: “We were around halfway to Dundee when I saw someone approaching me in my mirror.

“He started talking to me but I couldn’t understand what he was saying and when I didn’t respond he became angry and agitated. I told him that I would try to speak to him when we got back to Perth and I asked him to return to his seat.

“He got up and made as if to walk back to his seat but then turned and said ‘I’m going to drive’ before reaching over, grabbing the steering wheel and pulling it down to the left. I managed to get him off pretty quickly by kind of pushing him away with my foot, but the bus veered to the left and I had to apply the brakes.”

He added: “I think he deliberately tried to grab the wheel, but I don’t think he understood the seriousness of that.

“It was not that he was trying to take over the wheel and begin driving himself.It was more reckless stupidity than an attempt to remove me from my seat.”

While Duff returned to his seat, amid shouts from passengers asking him what he thought he was doing, Mr Buckley contacted Tayside Police.

Officers met the bus as it arrived in Perth and followed it to the drop-off point, where they approached with the intention of speaking to Duff.

The court was told the accused had attempted to escape their attentions by leaping from an emergency exit at the rear of the bus, but was swiftly apprehended.

After listening to evidence, Sheriff Michael Fletcher found Duff, of Lewis Place, Perth, guilty of a charge of culpable and reckless behaviour on the A90 Dundee to Perth road, near Glendoick, on December 29 2011.

He accepted the Crown’s submission that Duff had grabbed the steering wheel of a bus, causing its driver to lose control of the vehicle and the bus to veer about the carriageway and that by his actions he endangered the lives of persons on the bus.

Sentence was deferred upon Duff until May 1 for the preparation of reports.