Three cheers for Cathy the Pitlochry woman with grit who gave coach passengers hope

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Residents of Pitlochry in Highland Perthshire have been thanked for their heroic efforts when locals helped coach passengers in a jam.A Megabus bound for Edinburgh Airport got bogged down in Pitlochry with its driver and 72 passengers on New Year’s Day.

However, a motley crew of witnesses broke into a sweat to free the slipping wheels from the snow. The main street of Pitlochry was closed to traffic on January 1 from 1pm to 4pm to accommodate thousands of pedestrians who were enjoying the town’s popular annual street party.

But when the Inverness-Edinburgh Megabus arrived around 1.30pm and tried to approach its usual stop on Atholl Road, no one had informed the driver how to handle the diversions.The passenger coach had to go up West Moulin Road and come down the steep and narrow Bonnethill Road.But as it was heading back down to the main street, the Megabus service going in the other direction was approaching head on.When the first bus driver reversed to let the other bus pass, he lost traction and got stuck.Cathy Joss, the Pitlochry Street Party chair, had got aboard to guide the driver through the diversion and, now seeing the trouble, she told him to “sit tight” while she got help.She and local residents fetched shovels, grit and salt and between them, spent 20 minutes working to get the Megabus moving.Cathy, who has been involved in the street party for 15 or so years, had never seen a situation like this but kept her head.“There was no chance in hell I would have not helped the driver get his coach going,” she told the PA.“Cars were building up behind, the other coach driver was getting shirty.