LUCKY TO BE ALIVE

Hero passenger averts tragedy when driver of bus carrying Pink fans passes out at wheel

- JOHN-PAUL CLARK

A HERO passenger saved a bus full of Pink fans from a 70mph crash after the driver passed out at the wheel as they drove down a motorway to concert.

The coach was being driven to the gig at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland when it began to swerve across the M74 as the driver slumped unconscious in his seat.

While most of the 52 passengers screamed in terror, dad-of-two Alex Brewster, 40, stepped forward and grabbed the wheel of the out-of control vehicle.

He steered it away from road barriers before pulling on the handbrake.

Alex, from Larkhall, told the Record: "I noticed the bus swerving and jumped up from my seat. I was sitting directly behind the bus driver.

"Luckily, I'm a qualified bus driver. It's just sheer luck that I was there. I dread to think what could have happened that day.

The escape happened as the bus travelled down the M74 near Moffat, Dumfriesshire, during roasting 29C temperatures on Saturday.

Alex's wife Siobhan, 45, who was also on the coach, said her husband's quick-thinking saved lives.