Ten years since bin lorry crash in Glasgow that left six dead

Sunday marks the tenth anniversary of a bin lorry crash in Glasgow that left six people dead.

The accident happened on December 22, 2014, when the city was full of Christmas shoppers, just yards from the annual winter carnival in George Square.

Those killed were Jack and Lorraine Sweeney, 68 and 69, and their 18-year-old granddaughter, Erin McQuade, from Dumbarton, along with Stephenie Tait, 28, Jacqueline Morton, 51, both from Glasgow, and Gillian Ewing, 52, from Edinburgh.

A further 15 people were injured when the Glasgow City Council truck veered out of control after driver Harry Clarke collapsed at the wheel.

The lorry travelled along the pavement on Queen Street before crashing into the side of the Millennium Hotel in George Square.

A former bishop who helped in the aftermath of the crash said he will be praying for the victims on the 10th anniversary of the tragedy.

Right Reverend Dr Gregor Duncan, the Scottish Episcopal Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway, said: “That afternoon I went out, and when I went back the road was closed off with lots of people around.

“I saw human remains on the road, some covered, some not. I realised something terrible had happened and went back to my office and put my clerical dress on.

“Someone said to me out of the crowd ‘Five souls, Father’ – by which she meant five people had been killed, at that stage, I didn’t know how. She might have been asking me to pray for them.

“It happened soon after the Clutha and the city felt stricken – I think it felt afflicted. The time of year made it even worse. Some tragedies happen out of thin air, but others happen because of human error or human folly.”

A mass was held at St Andrew’s Cathedral in Glasgow soon after the incident, at which Archbishop Philip Tartaglia, who died in 2021, said Glasgow had been “eagerly and cheerfully preparing for Christmas” when it was suddenly turned into “a city of sadness and mourning”.

An inquiry into the incident held in 2015 heard the tragedy took just 19 seconds to unfold.

It found the accident might have been avoided if Clarke had told the truth about his medical history, after it emerged he had previously blacked out while at the wheel of a stationary bus.

The inquiry also heard he had a history of health issues dating back to the 1970s – including a previous blackout in 2010 when at the wheel of a stationary bus – but had not disclosed his medical background to his employers or the DVLA.

During the course of the incident, numerous members of the public saw Clarke unconscious and slumped forward in the driver’s seat.

Then lord advocate Frank Mulholland made the decision not to prosecute Clarke in 2016, and said he knew it was “not a popular one”.

Glasgow City Council failed in a subsequent legal bid to recover £6.5m from First Bus, Clarke’s former employer.

Crown lawyers decided not to prosecute Clarke due to there being “insufficient evidence” to show he had broken the law.

The £6.5m sought would have compensated the council for the money it paid to the relatives of those were killed in the collision.