FRIENDS of a York man killed when the stolen ambulance he was driving crashed into a bus on the A64 have paid emotional tributes to the family man and sports lover.

Huntington man Craig Johnson has known Michael South since they were both pupils together at Ralph Butterfield Primary School in Haxby.

Mr Johnson, who saw his old friend only weeks before the crash on Friday night, said he could not have known a greater friend to grow up with. Mr South will be remembered fondly by his old school friends, and missed greatly, he added.

Mr Johnson said: “He was a great friend to have. He loved cricket, and would always make us play in the back garden. I remember him making us go train spotting and spider hunting as well.”

Tributes have poured in on social media from those who knew or remembered him, Mr Johnson added.

He said: “All of us grew up with Michael, he will be very much missed.

“We were shocked to find out what had happened, and we are concerned for the other people involved.”

Mr South died after a crash between the private ambulance, which had been reported stolen earlier in the day, and the double decker bus. Six other people were treated in hospital, including the bus driver, whose condition was yesterday described as stable but serious.

The Leeds and York NHS Trust has refused to comment on suggestions that Mr South was a mental health patient being transported between hospitals by private ambulance firm ERS Medical when he drove off in the vehicle, before colliding with the Coastliner bus.

Witnesses have described passengers smashing windows and leaping from the roof of the bus to escape.

Ross Harland, 20, was travelling to meet friends in York on the bus, which was carrying 15 passengers, when it crashed.

Mr Harland, from High Hutton, said the bus had veered on to the grass verge and hit a tree.

“I was sitting at the back of the staircase when the ambulance hit us quite suddenly and with no warning,” he added.

“Some of the other passengers panicked at first and were quite distressed but we managed to get out of the emergency exit and things calmed down when the emergency services arrived.”

“A few of the passengers were injured with bleeding noses and one seemed to have a dislocated arm and they were taken to hospital but I was able to go straight home,” he added.

“The bus was quite badly damaged and a tyre had burst, but there wasn’t a lot left of the ambulance.”