Probe after bin lorry breaches Glasgow street weight limit

AN INVESTIGATION has been launched after a driver ignored restrictions and drove a 26-tonne bin lorry up a steep street in Glasgow just a mile from the scene of last year’s tragedy.

The bin lorry involved was the same size and type as the one involved in the George Street crash last December. Picture: Hemedia

The vehicle was identical to the one that careered out of control in the city centre just before Christmas last year, killing six people and injuring 15 after the driver passed out.

Onlookers were horrified when they saw a similar bin lorry breaking a 3.5-tonne weight restriction rule on a notoriously steep road in Glasgow on Friday.

The driver apparently ignored signs warning that Garnet Street was too steep and narrow for his vehicle.

Glasgow City Council apologised for the incident which was recorded by a tracking system inside the vehicle. A spokesman said: “The vehicle should not have been on Garnet Street and we are very sorry that it was.

• READ MORE - Bin lorries to avoid Glasgow crash site on anniversary

“We are currently investigating how this came to happen.”

The lorry drove past the two warning signs at the entrance to the one-way Garnethill street which is off Sauchiehall Street.

It then edged past cars on Garnet Street and made a collection at the top of the hill before taking a tight right-turn past a crossing outside a primary school.

The city council has announced that bin lorries will be removed from George Square on the anniversary of the 22 December crash.

Crowds are expected to gather for a candlelight vigil at the scene on Queen Street and George Square to mark the first anniversary.

• READ MORE - Call for lorries to be restricted in pedestrian areas

Erin McQuade, 18, her grandparents Jack Sweeney, 68, and his 69-year-old wife Lorraine, from Dumbarton, West Dunbartonshire, Stephenie Tait, 29, and Jacqueline Morton, 51, both from Glasgow, and Gillian Ewing, 52, from Edinburgh were all killed when the bin lorry careered along a pavement after driver Harry Clarke, 58, lost consciousness at the wheel.

An inquiry found the tragedy could have been avoided if he had not lied about his history of blackouts. The Crown Office decided not to prosecute him but relatives of Erin McQuade and Jack and Lorraine Sweeney have instructed lawyers to pursue a private prosecution.