Bin lorry crash: Driver did not disclose blackout

Large bin lorries were removed from busy Glasgow city centre locations in the aftermath of the crash following threats to some crews. Picture: Robert Perry

Harry Clarke was driving the council truck in Glasgow city centre on 22 December last year when it went out of control after witnesses reported he appeared to lose consciousness. Last week, the inquiry into the tragedy heard evidence that he had collapsed driving a bus in a previous job on the morning of 7 April 2010.

The inquiry at Glasgow Sheriff Court was told yesterday that Mr Clarke did not disclose the incident in three later medical assessments when applying for jobs at Glasgow City Council, starting in 2010.

Dorothy Bain QC produced a form completed by Mr Clarke in December 2010 as part of a job application that stated he had only had seven days off in the previous two years, which were due to flu. The lawyer, who is representing the family of victim Jacqueline Morton, later showed the inquiry Mr Clarke’s First Bus employment record that showed he had been off between 1 and 6 March and then between 7 and 30 April.

Both were marked as “sickness” on the form and an application for sick pay during the April absence detailed the illness as “vasovagal”, which Ms Bain said was “a faint or blackout”.

Ms Bain then showed a second medical questionnaire filled out by Mr Clarke in December 2011 when applying for a new job at the council road-gritting department. It stated he had no absences in the last two years.

The documents were produced during cross-examination of Douglas Gellan, cleaning services waste manager at the council.

Ms Bain said Mr Clarke had a third opportunity to declare the bus incident, during a DVLA licence check in 2011. Its D4 form needs to be completed by LGV drivers every five years once they turn 45.

A question on the form read: “Is there a history of blackout or impaired consciousness within the last five years?”

A box marking “No” had been ticked, the inquiry was shown.

Doctor Joanne Willox, who completed the form with Mr Clarke, told police in January that if she had known about the First Bus episode in 2010, she would have informed DVLA and the council, making him “temporarily unfit for duty”.

Ms Bain, who read the police statement at the inquiry, then asked the witness: “She would have done this because you can’t have someone who is prone to passing out behind the wheel of an LGV, can you?” Mr Gellan said: “No.”

Ms Bain continued: “Because the danger to the public would be of extraordinary proportions as we have seen in this case.”

The witness agreed.

Ms Bain also told the witness that Mr Clarke’s medical record showed he had reported vasovagal in 1989, had felt “dizzy behind the wheel” in 1994 and was told not to drive after a 2003 incident.

Mr Gellan said he had never heard anything about the record until this inquiry.

The council manager agreed when Ms Bain said: “If he had never been employed by the city council, the six people who lost their lives three days before Christmas would still be here today.”

She added: “If he had told the truth in his form to the council in 2010 and 2011, this all might have been prevented and we would not be here today.”

Mr Gellan agreed and said that Mr Clarke would not have been employed if the previous cases were known.

Earlier, Mr Gellan told the inquiry that large bin lorries have been removed from busy Glasgow city centre locations after some crews faced “verbal threats” in the wake of the fatal crash.

Erin McQuade, 18, and her grandparents Jack Sweeney, 68, and Lorraine Sweeney, 69, from Dumbarton, West Dunbartonshire, were struck and killed by the lorry, near Queen Street station, on 22 December last year.

Stephanie Tait, 29, and Ms Morton, 51, both from Glasgow, and Gillian Ewing, 52, from Edinburgh, also died.

•Driver ‘not unwell’ before Glasgow bin lorry crash