Glasgow bus driver blacked out and killed colleague

A bus driver who knocked down and killed his colleague should have followed medical advice after previous faints, to avoid losing consciousness while driving, a sheriff has ruled.

Glasgow Sheriff Court. Picture: John Devlin

Much-loved grandfather Jim Lochrie, 62, died after he was hit by the public service vehicle at a bus stop on Cathcart Road, Glasgow, on March 31, 2012, which was driven by David Logue.

A fatal accident inquiry into his death took place at Glasgow Sheriff Court earlier this year and heard from a number of witnesses including the driver of the bus.

Mr Logue - who worked with Mr Lochrie at First Glasgow’s depot at Victoria Road - cried as he spoke about his colleague.

Recalling the event, he said: “I was doing about 20mph. The next thing I remember is someone banging.

“I came to and I was slumped over the wheel and there was a brick wall in front of me.”

The inquiry heard he had twice blacked out at the wheel previously, in 1998 and 2008, and each time he had had his driving licence reinstated.

The third blackout that led to Mr Lochrie’s death was blamed on dehydration.

In a written judgment issued yesterday, Sheriff Kenneth Mitchell said: “A reasonable precaution whereby the accident resulting in Mr Lochrie’s death might have been avoided was for Mr Logue to have followed the advice given to him on June 17, 2008 by Dr John Byrne, to maintain a sufficient dietary and fluid intake to avoid becoming dehydrated and having a further vasovagal episode provoked by dehydration whilst he was driving a motor vehicle.

“Alternatively, if Mr Logue was not prepared to follow Dr Byrne’s advice (as I have found established), it was a reasonable precaution whereby the accident resulting in Mr Lochrie’s death might have been avoided for Mr Logue simply not have driven any type of motor vehicle, whether a car or a bus.”

The Crown Office decided Mr Logue will not face prosecution over Mr Lochrie’s death.

This echoes the decision not to prosecute Harry Clarke, the driver of the bin lorry that killed six people in Glasgow’s Queen Street on December 22, 2014.

Logue was at the wheel of the First Bus when it crashed into a bus stop on the city’s Cathcart Road.

His blackout caused the accident which claimed the life of Mr Lochrie, who was waiting at the bus stop when Logue’s bus ploughed into it.