School bus in road crash

A GROUP of schoolchildren escaped serious injury after their school bus was involved in a pile-up on a road near Oldmeldrum.

Four adults were taken to hospital after the crash, involving a van, three cars and the bus.

The schoolchildren were getting off the vehicle which had stopped on the A947 Aberdeen to Banff road, just outside Oldmeldrum when the crash happened.

Grampian Police Inspector Alan Scott said no one was seriously injured.

He said: “It looks like a van has gone into the back of three parked cars that have shunted the bus.”

A Scottish Ambulance Service spokeswoman said crews were on the scene just after 4pm.

She said: “We took one patient and three walking wounded to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

“No one on the school bus was hurt.”

Dave Keys’ 15-year-old son Callum was on the bus when the crash happened.

He said: “The bus had stopped to let two children off. Had they been crossing behind the bus at the time, it could have been more serious.”

The collision was the second involving schoolchildren this week on the A947.

A 10-year-old Turriff schoolboy remains in a serious condition after a trailer ploughed into a taxi taking him to school.

Meanwhile, two cars were involved in a crash on the B9170 Inverurie to Oldmeldrum road at about 7pm.

A Toyota Starlet and a Ford Fiesta were involved in the head-on smash on the outskirts of New Deer.

Both drivers were slightly injured.

jmckiernan@ajl.co.uk