Details of M9 crash review set out

John Yuill and Lamara Bell lay for three days in a crashed car

Details have been set out of a review into the way the police handle calls in their control centres.

It follows the fatal crash on the M9 two weeks ago which took police three days to investigate.

Scotland's inspector of constabulary, Derek Penman, said he will examine how control centre systems and staff manage, answer and prioritise calls.

He will also look at the way Police Scotland is reducing the number of control centres.

It is expected the report will be completed by the end of October.

The review will include visits to all Police Scotland call centres, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) said.

The review will examine the "capacity and capability of the systems and the staff available in the control centres to manage, answer and prioritise calls" to the police.

A separate investigation into the incident is being carried out by the independent Police Investigation and Review Commissioner (PIRC).

John Yuill was found dead and Lamara Bell critically injured on Wednesday 9 July in a car that had crashed off the M9 near Stirling.

Second call

It subsequently emerged that the crash had been reported to police by a member of the public the previous Sunday.

Officers only attended the scene after receiving a second call from a different person.

Ms Bell later died in hospital from injuries that included broken bones and kidney damage that had been caused by dehydration.

Sir Stephen House, the chief constable of Police Scotland, has admitted that his force had "got things badly wrong" over its handling of the tragedy.

But he has denied changes to the control room system following the amalgamation of Scotland's eight regional forces into a national force were to blame for the failure of officers to respond to the initial call about the crash.

Scottish Labour's justice spokesman said: "It appears that the police failure in this case wasn't an isolated incident and was the result of a number of major problems since the creation of Police Scotland.

"The inquiry by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland must look closely at the impact of the decision to close a number of police contact centres across the country and the cut in the number of civilian staff by the Scottish government.

"It is essential that this inquiry doesn't suffer from interference by SNP ministers."

Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokeswoman Alison McInnes said it would be fundamentally wrong to sweep problems in police call handling under the carpet.

She said: "It is essential that serving police officers and civilian staff have every chance to have their say during this review without fear of adverse consequences for their careers.

"The commitment from HMICS to listen to police staff and public alike is welcome and they will be held to that."