Glasgow bin lorry crash: Driver 'not fit to drive'

The bin lorry driven by Harry Clarke crashed after going out of control, killing six pedestrians

A doctor who assessed the Glasgow bin lorry crash driver for his HGV licence renewal in 2011 has said she would not have passed him fit to drive had she known he had fainted the previous year.

Dr Joanne Willox said Harry Clarke did not tell her about any faints he had suffered in the past five years.

Mr Clarke was unconscious at the wheel of the bin lorry which crashed in December last year, killing six people.

He had previously fainted behind the wheel of a stationary bus in 2010.

Ms Willox, who was working for Bupa on behalf of Glasgow City Council, told the fatal accident inquiry (FAI) into the tragedy that when she assessed Mr Clarke she did not have access to his medical records.

'Safety critical'

She said she could have obtained access to records with patient permission but the practice was not to do so for one-off assessments.

She told the inquiry it would have been helpful to have had them.

In response to a question on the assessment form about any history of blackouts or impaired consciousness in the last five years, Mr Clarke answered "no".

Ms Willox also said Mr Clarke's job was a "safety critical" one and that a person with an uninvestigated history of fainting should not be allowed to do it.

(Clockwise from top left) Jack Sweeney, Lorraine Sweeney, Erin McQuade, Jacqueline Morton, Stephenie Tait and Gillian Ewing were killed in the crash

Dorothy Bain QC, for the Morton family, produced Mr Clarke's medical history which underlined a "significant" number of dizzy episodes dating back to the 1970s.

She said Mr Clarke had also reported stress, depression and anxiety over the years.

And she noted that he reported 18 months of recurring dizziness during 1994 investigations into chest tightness.

Dr Willox says she would have asked Mr Clarke's GP for information and recorded this in DVLA forms had Mr Clarke told her of his history.

In April 2010 - shortly before he joined the council - Mr Clarke fainted on a stationary bus while working as a driver for First Bus.

Dr Willox said the information contained in Dr Kenneth Lyons' report to First Bus over the incident was enough to inform the DVLA and stop him from driving.

Dr Joanne Willox did not have Mr Clarke's medical records when she assessed him

In later evidence, when asked about a disputed "road rage" incident, cardiologist Prof Andrew Rankin said he "struggles to see" how it could be linked to Mr Clarke's loss of consciousness.

He also said fainting could recur outside time limits set out in DVLA guidelines.

Prof Rankin said there was "no clear pointer" that Mr Clarke was going to suffer loss of consciousness.

He said it was "likely" that he could have had an HGV licence in 2014 as the previous incidents had been so far in the past.

He said the "vast majority of people would not have had another episode".

Another cardiologist, Dr Nicholas Boon, said that if Mr Clarke blacked out without warning at the wheel of a stationary bus, his licence should have been revoked.

But he also said it was possible that Mr Clarke could have had an HGV licence in 2014 even if the 2010 episode had been disclosed.

The bin lorry crashed outside Queen Street Station in George Square

The FAI has previously heard evidence that Mr Clarke suffered episodes of dizziness and fainting for decades before the fatal crash on 22 December, when several witnesses reported seeing him slumped behind the wheel on the bin lorry as it went out of control in the city centre.

But he failed to disclose his health history to the DVLA and on job application forms, and was said to have continued to deny any history of blackouts even after the bin lorry crash.

The FAI has also heard claims that Mr Clarke was "on his last legs" at the bus firm following repeated sick days prior to his blackout.

Erin McQuade, 18, her grandparents Jack Sweeney, 68, and his 69-year-old wife Lorraine, all from Dumbarton, died in the incident in the city's Queen Street and George Square.

Stephenie Tait, 29, and Jacqueline Morton, 51, both from Glasgow, and Gillian Ewing, 52, from Edinburgh, were also killed when the truck mounted the pavement before crashing into the side of the Millennium Hotel.

A further 15 people were injured.