M9 crash: Police call centre absences 'unacceptable'

John Yuill and Lamara Bell were found in the car three days after the crash was first reported

The police call centre which took the message about the car which crashed off the M9, claiming two lives, had a 10% absence rate about a month before the incident, it has emerged.

The Scottish Conservatives, who uncovered the figures, described the situation as "completely unacceptable".

John Yuill, 28, and Lamara Bell, 25, were found inside the car three days after the crash had been reported.

Police Scotland said absence rates were improving.

The Scottish government said an action plan had been put in place in April to address recruitment and absence rates.

The crashed car was first reported to police on Sunday 5 July but the call was not logged and it was not until the following Wednesday, when police received a further call, that the couple were discovered.

Mr Yuill is thought to have died on impact after his Renault Clio left the M9 and went down an embankment on the outskirts of Stirling.

Ms Bell was critically injured and died in hospital at the weekend. She had suffered broken bones and kidney damage which was caused by dehydration after she spent three days trapped next to the body of her boyfriend.

'Completely unacceptable'

An independent investigation is under way by the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner and a review of all police call handling is being carried out by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS).

Police Scotland Chief Constable Sir Stephen House has said he will not be resigning over the force's handling of the case.

Figures contained in a Scottish Police Authority report from last month showed that in the force's police service centres - which handle non-emergency 101 calls - there were 36 members of staff absent as of mid-June.

The car had gone down an embankment off the M9

That included 15 absent from the east centre at Bilston Glen, which is understood to have taken the call about the crash.

The 15 absences, recorded on 11 June, equated to an absence rate of 10.6%.

Figures in the report also showed that staff in Scottish call centres had worked more than 8,300 hours in overtime from the start of April to "mitigate" the impact of staff vacancies.

Scottish Conservative justice spokeswoman Margaret Mitchell said: "This is a deeply distressing tragedy, all the more so because the warning signs that emerged months ago were completely ignored by the Scottish government.

"A 10% absence rate is completely unacceptable in a high pressure environment where people's lives depend on calls being handled quickly and efficiently.

"Service centre staff are already overburdened from excessive centralisation, but the sheer number of vacancies and lost advisor hours are only putting them under more strain."

She added: "The buck stops with the Scottish government on this and the public will no doubt wonder why it is constantly on the back foot with Police Scotland."

Action plan

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said: "This is further evidence of the difficulties that staff operating within police control rooms are facing.

"We know that these are high-pressure, high-stress jobs. The fact that 10% of staff were absent at Bilston Glen when this report was published last month demonstrates clearly the workload pressures that the remaining staff at these crucial facilities are facing.

"This underlines the need for a wider review into the operations of Police Scotland following the tragic events in Stirling."

A Scottish government spokeswoman said: "An action plan was put in place in April by Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) to address recruitment and absence rates and as a result rates are improving.

"Action continues to be taken and the Scottish government receives regular monitoring and assurance reports from the SPA."

Police Scotland's assistant chief constable Val Thomson said: "The number of staff on sick leave varies from day to day and managers work hard to ensure sickness absence does not have a detrimental effect on performance.

"Today at Bilston the absence rate is only 4.5%. This is consistent with the absence rate across the division and throughout the country. Absence rates are in fact reducing.

"Resource management across contact, command and control division is calculated to include resilience around absence and, where necessary, we are able to support staffing levels through other means to ensure Police Scotland service centres and control rooms are resourced appropriately."