Dundee United representative Derek Robertson has told of his “fright” at being involved in a plane crash en route to Thursday’s Europa League draw.
Robertson, a former Tannadice director, attended the club’s 1-0 second qualifying round first leg defeat to Slask Wroclaw in Poland on Thursday before attempting to make his way to Switzerland for the third qualifying round draw.
He left immediately after full-time to head to Warsaw before connecting on to Geneva for the UEFA ceremony.
But his flight to the Polish capital was caught in a thunderstorm then smashed into a truck sitting on the runway when it landed.
Robertson revealed that he initially thought the plane’s undercarriage had snapped as he was thrown about inside the cabin.
But upon finally being allowed to disembark he noticed the full extent of the damage, with debris lying all around.
“It was a bit of a fright,” said Robertson. “There was a thunderstorm and it was an old-fashioned plane.
“When we landed it was thunder and lightning, it was dark and the weather was horrendous.
“We were going along the runway at a fair rate of knots then there was an almighty crash.
“We were thrown about in the cabin and I thought the undercarriage of the plane had collapsed or something. But it turned out we had crashed into a truck and the driver was badly injured.
“We were on the plane for a while because the ambulances, fire brigade and police arrived to deal with it.
“Once we got off it was clear how serious it had been because there was debris lying for about 300 yards.
“We had obviously dragged the truck right along the runway. I just hope the driver is okay.”
Meanwhile, should United turn the tie around against Slask at Tannadice on Thursday, they will face either Metalurg Skopje of Macedonia or Bulgaria’s Locomotiv Sofia.