An inquiry into the bin lorry crash in Glasgow which left six people dead has heard the driver “misled” his employers about his medical history.
Harry Clarke had passed out at the wheel of a bus on April 7, 2010, but Glasgow Sheriff Court was told a DVLA assessment form from 2011 noted he had no history of blackouts within the past five years.
The court had previously heard that the 58-year-old was unconscious at the wheel as the Glasgow City Council bin lorry went out of control on Queen Street on December 22, 2014, killing six pedestrians and injuring 15 others.
The fatal accident inquiry (FAI) also heard from First Bus inspector John Stewart, who told the court that Clarke, in his previous employment as a bus driver, had blacked out while unwell at a bus stop in 2010.
On Wednesday, the sixth day of the FAI, which is being overseen by Sheriff John Beckett QC, the court heard evidence from Douglas Gellan, an area manager with Glasgow City Council's land and environmental services department, reports the BBC.
He was questioned by Dorothy Bain QC, who is acting for the bereaved Morton family.
Gellan agreed that a medical assessment was important in the recruitment of a bin lorry driver as anyone unfit would be a risk to the public.
The witness confirmed that medical assessment was outsourced to private firms and he agreed with Bain that an employee found to have lied in medical questionnaires would face "serious disciplinary consequences".
The inquiry was shown a Bupa medical questionnaire filled in by Clarke in December 2010, in which he claimed to have been off work for seven days of sickness in the previous two years.
The hearing was then shown an attendance record from his employment with First Bus when he was a driver in 2010, that detailed a three-and-a-half week period of sickness in April that year. It also showed a one-week period of sickness in March of the same year.
During the inquiry it was heard that before working as a bin lorry driver with Glasgow City Council, Clarke was taken on as a driver taking special needs children to school and then a gritter.
The inquiry was also shown a HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) sick pay declaration from Clarke where it says he had last worked on April 7, 2010, and the reason for his sickness was "Vasovagal", which Bain explained meant "faint".
Gellan said he would have wanted to know about this. He also said that if forms had been misleadingly filled in, the council would investigate but it would rely on individuals to tell the truth in the first place.
He had a DVLA assessment with a Doctor Willox on December 6, 2011. Bain produced the assessment form from that day which claimed Clarke had no history of blackouts within the past five years.
The QC noted that as it stands, it is a "hypothetical assertion" that Clarke had in fact "blacked out" in 2010. This was based on the report of bus inspector Stewart.
Bain asked Gellan that if we accepted that Mr Clarke had blacked out in 2010, was his statement on the DVLA form a lie? Gellan agreed it was.
Bain said police had later asked Dr Willox what she would have said if she had been told about the alleged 2010 blackout.
The QC said Dr Willox told police she would have disclosed the alleged 2010 incident to the DVLA and the council, asked for Mr Clarke's medical records and declared him "temporarily unfit for duty".
The court was then shown a letter to a doctor at People Asset Management - a firm contracted by Glasgow City Council to carry out medical assessments.
The letter notes that Clarke underwent "extensive investigation" at hospital, including brain scans, after the bin lorry crash.
It states that the most likely diagnosis for Mr Clarke was neurocardiogenic syncope (also known as vasovagal syncope) and notes there was "no specific treatment".
The court heard that the letter noted Mr Clarke had "accepted that he would not return to work as a lorry driver".
Bain asked Gellan if this condition had been diagnosed in 2010, would the council have employed Clarke as a driver? He replied: "No."
The QC then asked the witness if the people killed in the bin lorry crash "would still be here today" if that had been the case? Gellan replied: "Yes."
The inquiry is examining the lorry, its route and driver Harry Clarke's health.
The Crown Office has already concluded that there will be no criminal prosecution over the crash.
Login to comment
Comments
No comments have been made yet.