West Lothian school bus blaze: Everything we know so far about what happened

Pupils escaped from a school bus in West Lothian today which went up in flames on the busy A71 road.
The fire-damaged bus.The fire-damaged bus.
The fire-damaged bus.

Here is everything we know so far about what happened;

What: An E&M Horsburgh coach was reported ablaze at about 8:30am today as pupils were being taken to school.

West Lothian Council said they understand from the bus operator that the driver noticed smoke coming from the rear of the vehicle and pulled over as a precaution. The pupils exited safely with the driver of the bus.

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Where: The incident took place on a westbound section of the A71 road near the Wilderness Roundabout, Bellsquarry. A temporary diversion remains in place near the scene.

Emergency Response: Police, fire and ambulance crews were in attendance and the incident was cleared by 10.30am. Everyone had exited the vehicle by the time emergency services arrived. A replacement bus picked up the pupils shortly afterwards and they were taken to school.

Was anyone hurt? A police spokeswoman said there were no injuries as a result of the bus fire.

A spokeswoman for Pumpherston-based E&M Horsburgh said: “Everybody was evacuated from the bus safely. We’re trying to establish what happened.”

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Safety Tests: Asked if the single decker had passed required tests, the spokeswoman for E&M Horsburgh said: “Of course it had, it wouldn’t have been on the road if it hadn’t.”

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