A PASSENGER had a seizure after being shot with a BB gun as two men fired at each other on the top deck of a bus after a drinking session.

Jason Sharp and Barry Shields had enjoyed a trip to Blackpool and were returning home from Edinburgh when they boarded an East Coast No.113 bus to Tranent.

Sharp, 36, and Shields, 30, had legally bought two BB guns from a shop in the Lancashire seaside resort as presents for relatives and had them onboard the bus.

But during the trip they pulled the weapons from a bag and began shooting at each other, causing mayhem on the bus.

A BB pellet fired by Sharp, of Forester’s View, Tranent, struck Shields’ head and he then hit a bus passenger with a pellet as he tried to retaliate by firing back.

The police were called after the innocent passenger struck by the pellet began having a seizure on the bus and needed an ambulance.

The two men were both arrested and charged and appeared from custody at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last Thursday.

The court heard that the pair had been drinking on the day of the incident.

Fiscal depute Rosie Cook told the court that Shields, of Caponhall Drive, Tranent, was the first to pull a gun from his bag and began loading it with pellets.

Ms Cook said he then “began shooting it in Mr Sharp’s direction”, leading to Sharp then loading his gun and shooting back as the pair travelled on the upper deck of the bus.

After Shields was struck, he fired his firearm in the direction of Sharp but missed and hit a male passenger on the back of the head.

The passenger became irate at being struck and confronted the pair.

A female passenger intervened and sat beside the male passenger in a bid to calm the situation before she went downstairs to tell the driver what had happened, the court heard.

The male passenger who had been struck by the pellet then collapsed on the bus and was described as having “an anxiety seizure” due to the assault.

The bus was pulled over on Bridge Street in Tranent following the 10.30pm incident and the police and an ambulance were called.

Sharp and Shields then left the bus before police officers arrived but were soon located.

Shields was spotted walking on the town’s High Street about two hours later and he was apprehended by a number of officers.

Sharp was also picked up a short time later after he too was seen walking nearby and, following a search of a local pub, a bag containing one BB gun and some pellets was found.

Solicitor Cameron Tait said that father-of-two Sharp had travelled back from Blackpool with his friend that day and said the firearms they had bought were “readily available” in shops there.

He added that the pair began “fooling around” with the guns on the bus before firing them and the incident had been “a bit of a carry on”.

Angela Craig said her client Shields was “ashamed and feels wholly responsible” for his actions on August 30.

Both lawyers said that their clients, who pleaded guilty, had been on remand for 80 days and asked Sheriff Robert Weir to release them on bail ahead of next month’s sentencing hearing.

But Sheriff Weir decided to deny the motion and kept both men on remand. He deferred sentence to next Thursday (December 5) for the preparation of background reports.