Gerard McLaughlin had been travelling on First Bus‘s X3 service to Cumbernauld on Tuesday, April 28, when passengers began noticing smoke filling the vehicle.
The hospital worker told Glasgow Live that one woman alerted the driver after she began choking on the fumes between the Robroyston Asda and Stepps cutoff, leaving her coughing on her knees when the bus pulled over.
After stopping, Gerard says the driver discovered a puddle developing at the back of the bus which he described as looking like diesel.
Among the passengers stranded at the roadside was a woman with a young baby, who was left standing at the side of the busy road for more than half an hour until a recovery vehicle arrived.
Gerard told Glasgow Live: “The recovery truck pulls in after we had been standing there for about half an hour.
“While we’re standing there, the bus driver is trying to wave down the next X3 bus service, but it kept going. It was nearly empty.
“Meanwhile, there is this young lassie with her baby standing at the side of the road.”
A replacement bus eventually arrived but pulled in nearly 200 metres ahead of the stranded passengers, forcing the woman and her buggy to walk along the edge of the exposed carriageway.
Gerard told Glasgow Live: “It was a disgrace. I don’t care about walking up the side of the road, but to make a young woman with a baby do it is shocking.”
Gerard also raised wider concerns about the reliability of the X3 service, saying it regularly runs late and often fails to show up altogether.
He told Glasgow Live the bus failed to arrive for his morning commute on one occasion, leaving him waiting an hour and arriving late for work.
A First Bus spokesperson said: “We can confirm that one of our X3 services experienced a coolant leak on the M80 yesterday at around 3pm, which resulted in steam coming from the vehicle.
“A replacement vehicle was immediately sent from Buchanan Bus Station to collect the passengers. We apologise for the disruption and inconvenience caused to our passengers on this service.”
