Woman dies after collision with car being chased by police

A WOMAN died after the taxi she was in was hit by a car being ­pursued by a police van.

Mary Laurie died in the collision near traffic lights at Stepps Road and Springboig Road.

Mary Laurie, (also known as Marie), 57, from Easterhouse, in Glasgow was returning home from her son’s wedding with her husband Jamie when the black Hackney taxi they were travelling in was in collision with a green Vauxhall Astra at around 1:30am on Sunday.

In a statement yesterday Police Scotland said a 20-year-old man was the subject of a report to the procurator-fiscal and that “as is standard procedure the matter has been referred to the Police Investigations and Review 
Commissioner (Pirc) for consideration”.

A 52-year-old man, also a passenger in the taxi, was taken to Glasgow Royal Infirmary where medical staff describe his condition as serious but stable.

Mary Laurie.

The 50-year-old male taxi driver, the 20-year-old male driver of the Vauxhall Astra and his 16-year-old female passenger all sustained minor injuries.

The Police Scotland statement said the Vauxhall Astra, in the Springhill industrial estate, failed to stop after being signalled to do so by police, officers then switched on their van’s blue lights and followed the car, again signalling for to stop.

The car drove west along Edinburgh Road for a short distance and was then involved in the collision with the taxi at the traffic lights at Stepps Road and Springboig Road.

Mrs Laurie’s family have asked that their privacy is respected during this difficult time and said: “She will be sadly missed by all the family.”

Mrs Laurie and her husband had been at their son’s wedding at the Lochside House Hotel in New Cumnock. The family organised a minibus to take them back to the east end of Glasgow.

The minibus dropped the family off at Springboig Road leaving the couple to get a taxi back to nearby Easterhouse.

A Pirc spokesman said: “The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) has instructed the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner to carry out an independent investigation into the circumstances leading up to a fatal road crash in Glasgow on 29 November 2015.

“A report on the Commissioner’s findings will be submitted to the COPFS in due course.”