A BUS driver who crashed his vehicle onto the Borders Railway has escaped a ban.

Forty eight year old Mark Woodcock claimed his foot got stuck on the accelerator as he failed to negotiate a roundabout and instead the bus bulldozed through an Armco crash barrier and fence and plunged down an embankment before landing on the track ballast.

The incident in Galashiels, on the evening of Sunday, December 8 caused chaos on the Borders Railway with all trains between Edinburgh Waverley and Tweedbank cancelled for the remainder of the night.

Some services on the Monday morning were also affected as trains were in the wrong position.

At Selkirk Justice of the Peace Court, Woodcock pleaded guilty to a charge of careless driving and was fined £600 and had his licence endorsed with seven penalty points.

The court heard he had driven a Peter Hogg-owned bus from Hawick to Galashiels for a bingo session and had gone to re-fuel before picking up his passengers for the return journey at around 8.30pm.

But after coming down a hill and negotiating the roundabout in a "normal manner" he tried to make a turn into Ladhope Vale.

Depute fiscal Fiona Hamilton said: "But for no apparent reason he does not turn into Ladhope Vale but strikes a kerb and goes through an Armco crash barrier and a fence and down an embankment.

"The bus came to rest with its wheels on the track ballast.

"It rendered it impassable for other trains until the bus was removed."

The court was told that road conditions were very wet on the night.

Woodcock explained his foot had got stuck on the accelerator causing the bus to speed up and he was unable to brake in time.

JP Gary Watson said Woodcock had told the court he was trained to a high level.

But Mr Watson added that on this occasion the standard of driving had fallen below what would be reasonably expected for a competent driver.

The JP said he would have imposed a two months discretionary disqualification period but reduced that to his licence being endorsed with seven penalty points due to the guilty plea as well as the £600 fine which had been reduced from £900.

He pointed out that Woodcock of Inchmyre, Kelso, now had 11 penalty points on his licence and any further offence would result in a ban.

Mr Watson added: "You are a very fortunate man."

In addition, Woodcock was ordered to pay a £40 victims surcharge which is new legislation that was introduced for offences committed after November 25, 2019.

This is to contribute to a central fund towards the cost of supporting victims of crime.