Lucky escape for mum and baby after gun fired at bus

A YOUNG mother and her baby daughter have had a lucky escape after a bus came under suspected gun fire in the Capital last night.

Lynsey Wade, 20, and one-year-old daughter Rihanna were among the passengers on the X95 First bus service which had a window shattered as it approached the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

The mother and daughter, who were heading home to Hawick in the Borders, were sitting next to the window which was shattered by what she thought was an airgun pellet.

Police chiefs today said no pellet had been found so it is unclear whether it was a gun attack but Ms Wade said she was convinced it was an airgun.

She said: "We were in the bus just by the hospital and I was sitting down the front where the wheelchairs go with my little girl in a buggy.

"There was a big bang and a smash and my wee girl was right beside it. The window smashed and the driver pulled over. It was a gun, it was like a shot from across the road. I got a fright, I didn't know what had happened."

She added: "I could have been hurt or my wee girl could have been hurt. It's really dangerous and there's too many people just getting away with things like that. I feel lucky, I got such a fright."

The incident happened on Old Dalkeith Road shortly after 9pm. Other passengers on the bus reported seeing one or two people running away from the scene.

One man, who did not want to be named, said: "There was a loud bang and the window shattered. There was a hole the size of a 1p piece – had it been any lower it would have hit the young mother. Some people on the bus were saying they saw one or two people running along the road behind the bus. People were quite calm.

"Nobody was hurt but we were shocked. It's shocking that someone was so close to being hurt."

A police spokesman said: " The incident happened around 9.30pm and we are appealing to anyone with any information to get in touch with us."

DECOY PLOY HELPING TO BEAT VANDALS

THE problem of stone and airgun attacks has led to bus operators and police teaming up and running decoy services around the Lothians.

With plain-clothes police officers for passengers and followed by an unmarked police car, the bus is driven through stoning hotspots.

It is just one of the initiatives in the armoury of newly-appointed public transport liaison officer, Pc Colin Byrne, whose 30,000 salary and costs are funded by Lothian Buses, First, and Lothian and Borders Police. He is dedicated to catching those whose behaviour makes life a misery for bus drivers and passengers.

Lothian Buses operations manager George McKendrick, said vandalism cost the company about 500,000 every year, so 10,000 towards the cost of a police officer was a good investment.

He said: "The decoy bus had been particularly effective.

"We had 12 arrests in Niddrie earlier this year where kids were throwing stones, and we've had about 50 arrests overall in just a couple of years. Sometimes the police just take the kids home and have a word with their parents and it certainly helps."