Motorcyclist killed by cars in Holyrood Park

SHOCKED onlookers have ­spoken of their horror after they saw a motorcyclist killed in ­Holyrood Park.

Witnesses looked on hopelessly as the rider was hit by two cars shortly before 1.30pm yesterday.

Emergency services rushed to the popular visitor spot but nothing could be done to save the 45-year-old, who was ­pronounced dead at the scene.

The incident, near Meadowbank, occurred on a 20mph stretch of the road, close to St Margaret’s Loch.

The road was closed between Meadowbank and Holyrood for several hours while Road Policing Officers carried out their enquiries.

Laura Collins, 21, from Dalkeith, was taking her two-year-old daughter Sophie to feed the ducks when she heard the sirens and saw the flashing lights.

She said: “There were loads of police and ambulances, it didn’t look good at all. They were trying to do CPR on him at the scene but I think he was too badly injured.

“People were saying he’d been hit by a car and then ran over. It’s so sad. It’s tragic he won’t be going home now.”

Daniel Moffat, 18, from Gorebridge, said he could tell something was seriously wrong because all the cars had been parked up.

He said: “I think it had just happened. Everyone had stopped and pulled up in their cars. “One of the guys that was driving looked really shaken up. He was only young, it looked like he couldn’t have passed his test for long.

“I saw them moving the ­biker. They put him in the back of the ambulance.”

At the same time in the park a rescue was taking place of a 39-year-old man who had fallen while walking up Arthur’s Seat.

The Scottish Ambulance Service sent a specialist team to treat the man after reports he had injured his ankle. He was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

One onlooker described it as a “mad half-hour.”

He said: “There were ­ambulances rushing to this ­accident and then other paramedics going up Arthur’s Seat. It was crazy.

“I’ve never seen so many flashing lights here in one day.

“They were pulling one 
person down as others were trying to help the biker. It’s a shame that they couldn’t save him.”

It was the third incident in two days after another walker had to be rescued on Tuesday after falling on the park’s hill and suffering back injuries.

Yesterday, emergency services were also called to a collision involving a bus and a car in the city centre. Witnesses said that a red Honda Jazz had been travelling up East Market Street when it collided with a No 36 bus which had been turning into Jeffrey Street.

A woman was taken to hospital with unspecified injuries but the bus driver was uninjured.

A Police Scotland spokesman appealed for witnesses to the Holyrood Park incident to contact them.

He said: “Anyone who was in the area and witnessed this collision, or who has information that can assist police with their investigation is asked to come forward immediately.”