A MAN was taken to hospital after being hit by an Edinburgh tram today.
The 32-year-old was rushed to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary after the collision, which happened at 2pm at Lochside Crescent near Edinburgh Park.
A witness, who saw the whole thing from his office window, said he could “hear the thud” as the man was hit by the 56 tonne tram.
Andy Aveyard, 43, works in a building about 50 yards from where the incident happened. He said: “My window overlooks the tracks.
“I just saw the guy out the corner of my eye, head down, walking towards the tracks.I could hear the thud through the office window.”
Mr Aveyard continued: “I could see him, just walking, head down, towards the tracks. It just hit. It must have been going about 30 or 40 miles an hour down that stretch.
“He walked into the side of it, he walked into the corner of it and bounced back.
“People seemed to rush to him. He was lying on the ground. I didn’t see blood. I saw him sit up at one point.”
He added: “The driver managed to stop within 100 yards. He was ringing the bell.
“You could see what was going to happen. I shouted out ‘idiot’.”
Mr Aveyard said he could not see if the man had headphones on at the time.
The tram service was suspended between Edinburgh Park Station and the airport for about an hour as the emergency services appeared at the scene.
Locals took to social media to describe the dramatic scenes.
Stewart Dawson tweeted: “Just walked by. Looks like an unconscious male, lying next to the footpath by the tracks.”
Steven Baker wrote: “It’s been stopped a while and another ambulance has turned up. Doesn’t look good.”
A spokeswoman for Police Scotland said: “We can confirm attendance at an incident in which a 32-year-old man was involved in a collision with a tram.
“The man was conveyed by ambulance to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary with minor injuries.
“Enquiries are ongoing into the nature of the incident.”
A spokesman for Edinburgh Trams said: “We can confirm that there was a collision between a tram and a pedestrian at Lochside Avenue earlier today.
“We supported emergency services at the scene and suspended services between Edinburgh Park Central and the Airport for around 90 minutes to give them the access they needed to support the injured man.
“We’ll be investigating the incident but we’re very confident that our driver and the wider team reacted appropriately.”
