The group includes a woman who steered a driverless runaway bus out the path of an oncoming car.

Fire heroes Carys Calder and her cousin Lynsay Cumming, who were both aged 12 at the time, carried their great-great aunt and grandmother from a house in Ayr after an electric blanket caught fire.

They have been presented with the Scottish Government's Brave@Heart award for their courageous act, alongside Agnes Crystal who grabbed the wheel of a runaway bus in Dundee when the driver left the handbrake off.

Ms Crystal, who has never held a driving licence, steered the coach away from an oncoming vehicle and into a barrier after the bus driver had left to go to a nearby shop.

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "The Brave@Heart Awards recognise and celebrate people who have shown exceptional bravery, whether in battling the elements to save others, by intervening to stop a criminal in the act or by showing life-saving instincts in the toughest of circumstances.

"This year's winners range in age from 13 to over 60. They come from across Scotland and from all walks of life. What they have in common is that each has shown remarkable courage and that deserves wholehearted recognition."

Other recipients are Angus Blackburn who risked his life to pull a child from a burning building and acting charge nurse Margaret Dunlop who evacuated the high-dependence unit at Ayr hospital when a refrigerator leaked gas.

Several people were recog- nised for facing down attack- ers. One such have-a-go hero was shopworker Euan George Brown who disarmed a knife-man trying to rob his Orkney shop. Elsewhere, newsagent Stacey Lynch helped police snare a man who had threatened her with a syringe.

Four constables have been recognised, including one stabbed by a man threatening to kill himself.

The annual awards invite emergency workers to nominate colleagues and members of the public.