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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
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Neil Pooran & David McLean

The Edinburgh bus driver whose snowstorm heroics shot her to national stardom

Five years ago an Edinburgh bus driver briefly broke the internet by avoiding a horror crash during the infamous 'Beast from the East' blizzards.

As the country gears up for a possible return of the intense snowstorms that battered Britain at the end of February 2018, we look back to the day a Lothian Buses driver pulled off a manoeuvre worthy of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

It's just over five years to the day when hero driver Charmaine Laurie's ninja-like steering wheel control helped avert disaster.

READ MORE: Edinburgh’s ‘politely discriminating’ women-only bank where men were banned

Dashcam footage recorded by driver Gareth Smith captured the moment Charmaine's double-decker was forced to take evasive action when a hatchback attempting a three-point turn became stuck on her side of Frogston Road.

Visibility was so low Charmaine was only doing less than 20mph, but she still had little time to react when the hatchback rolled in front of her.

Thankfully, Charmaine tapped rather than slammed on the brakes and was able to deftly swerve her number 11 bus round the stricken car, while also avoiding Gareth's vehicle, which was also toiling in the heavy snow.

If not for the lightning-quick response and expert control of the hero bus driver, we shudder to think what may have happened.

Footage of the incredible incident, which was record on February 28 2018, was shared online thousands of times, becoming a viral hit.

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Appearing on Good Morning Britain a few days later, Charmaine said her training kicked in as she only had seconds to react.

She said: "I was just coming up over the hill and the visibility was quite poor so I was going quite slow.

"I just saw the car do a U-turn. I really didn't have much time to react to it.

READ MORE: Can you nail our Edinburgh Live nostalgia quiz? Test your knowledge here

"My training just kind of kicked in and a lot of luck to be honest with you.

"When my back end started going out I knew to take my foot off the brake and just tried to glide through it.

"Luckily it went well."

When she got home, Ms Laurie's husband asked her if she had seen the video of the near miss on social media, not realising she had been driving the vehicle.

Praise for Charmaine

Though it seems only one of her passengers mentioned the incident to her on the day itself, many people showered her with praise when the video was released.

Nicola Sturgeon was among those to thank Charmaine for her actions a few days later.

The First Minister visited Lothian Buses' headquarters in order to see their apprenticeship scheme.

She described Charmaine as a "local hero" and the pair chatted at the depot.

The accolades didn't stop there, she was given a "Highly Commended" gong at the National Transport Awards in October last year, and was later nominated for Lothian Buses driver of the year.

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