A hero bus driver stopped masked robbers from stealing a Sainsbury's ATM machine when he used his vehicle to block the gang.
The early morning heist caused terrified staff to run for safety when the cash machine was chained to a high-powered Audi and ripped from the supermarket's walls, leaving behind £42,000 worth of damage.
But the gang were halted when a brave bus driver moved his vehicle to create a barrier between the car and the ATM, the Daily Record reports.
The panicked robbers tried to free the ATM from the chains and move it to the boot of the Audi, a court was told.
A taxi driver approached the scene and one of the gang threw an “object” at it, denting its bodywork.
Fiscal depute Jack Caster told Edinburgh's sheriff court: “By this stage police were converging. Lights from police vehicles could be seen against the buildings in the distance.
“The men freed the chains from the Audi and drove off leaving the ATM behind."
The attempted brazen theft at the Sainsbury's Local in the Scottish city's West End happened at around 3.27am after the store had closed at 11pm. Staff remained inside to stock the shelves throughout the night.
The store’s glass frontage was damaged, the court heard, as the cash machine was hauled onto the road.
Cameron Corbett was just 18 when he took part in the raid, along with his two accomplices.
Police later recovered the Audi SQ5 and forensic tests on a plastic bottle left inside it identified Corbett’s DNA. He was caught a week later.
Corbett admitted, while acting with others unknown to prosecutors, breaking into the store in Shandwick Place to steal the ATM.
Mr Caster told the court three masked men jumped out of the Audi and approached the shop. Five staff members saw the trio trying to force entry and fled through a fire exit and contacted police.
He said the gang got inside the store and put the heavy metal chains around the ATM.
Following the incident on May 17, 2018, the ATM and chains could be seen lying in the street next to the shattered shop windows as police cordoned off the scene.
Incriminating texts between Corbett and a man called "Dan", which appeared to relate to the foiled raid, were found on the accused’s mobile phone.
The court heard Corbett, now 21, was jailed for four-and-half years in October for breaking into a home, taking car keys and stealing the owner’s Audi A3.
Sheriff Douglas Keir deferred sentence on Corbett, of Edinburgh’s Granton area, until next month for reports.
