Shoppers flee runaway van

Mar 28 2011 by Bryan Brough, Paisley Daily Express

STUNNED shoppers have told how they were left terrified as a runaway van rolled BACKWARDS down a steep hill and came hurtling towards them.

Pedestrians in Moss Street had to think on their feet as the white Renault van gathered speed and thundered towards a large window at a solicitor’s office in Paisley town centre.

They jumped out of the way and looked on as the van’s rear wheels hit a high kerb, causing it to bounce, before coming to an abrupt halt.

The rear bumper was only inches away from the window of Coffield and Co Solicitors.

Shocked mum Marjory McGregor said the van had its hazard lights on and it was the flashing that caught her attention.

She added: “The vehicle had no engine running so it was silent.

“Thank goodness I saw it coming and got out of the way in the nick of time.

“The street was busy and how no-one was injured, even killed, is incredible.”

The scary incident happened in the afternoon around 2.30pm after a van was parked on two yellow lines in the town’s School Wynd.

The van’s handbrake was on and hazard lights flashing, while the driver went into nearby flats.

But minutes later the van began rolling silently backwards down the steep hill.

Alan Leitch, 36, who works close by, said someone shouted that a van was moving with no driver in it.

Dad-to-be Alan said: “I tried to get to the van but it ran down the hill quite quickly.

“I was sure it was going to crash through the large glass window of the lawyer’s business but amazingly the kerb stopped it.”

He added: “This happened on a week day but if it had been a Saturday it could have led to a tragedy.”

Shopper Mary Stewart said: “I saw police and traffic wardens trying to find the driver who suddenly appeared from a block of flats and said it was his van.

“I saw a warden giving him a ticket.”

Later police said the driver of the vehicle was given a fixed penalty ticket for parking on double yellow lines.

It’s understood the van’s handbrake was not faulty and fully functional.