CRUSHED under rubble Norman Maciver coughed and spluttered to catch his breath, his mouth full of debris.

Seconds earlier, the 46-year-old father-of-two arrived at The Clutha to see his friend's band play.

He spent the next three months in Glasgow Royal Infirmary and was the last survivor to leave hospital.

For a long time Mr Maciver had almost no memory of that tragic night but a year on it's starting to come back to him.

He said: "I was just in the door and there was the noise of the impact.

"We thought the speakers had blown. Then I was knocked out.

"For ages my first memory was the paramedics trying to get all the dust out with wet cotton wool so that I wouldn't breathe it in.

"Now I kind of remember coming to and then spitting out dust when I was still in the pub. I was completely crushed. It was crazy."

The Glaswegian research scientist's legs were shattered, he had fractured vertebrae in his back and neck, eight cracked ribs and doctors had to fit a chest drain in his left lung to allow him to breathe.

He said: "The first seven days in intensive care and then three in high dependency were a bit of a blur because I was pumped full of morphine.

"I was imagining a lot of things. Every time a nurse had a different accent I thought I'd been flown around the UK to different hospitals."

Mr Maciver knows he was "one of the lucky ones" - Joe Cusker, who was in the bed next to him, died 13 days after the police helicopter crashed through the roof of the packed Clutha pub on November 29.

It wasn't until February 27 that doctors allowed Mr Maciver to return to his West End flat.

He said: "It's all a distant memory now but looking back on it, it's unbelievable. I don't know how, mentally, I got through it, all the operations.

"My two legs were completely reconstructed. I'm just trying to learn how to walk again, essentially. I'm still on pretty heavy opiates. I don't sleep that well and my appetite is not great. I'm still recovering.

"The injuries were so bad that it's taken a long time just to get to this point.

TO be able to bend my legs to almost a 90 degree angle is a miracle. That's what we concentrate on in physiotherapy.

"I also had eight broken ribs with whatever came down on top of me and I still get a twinge in my back.

"The doctor said in the future I'm open to arthritis with all the fractures I had.

"It's hard to know what the full recovery will be like. At the moment getting up a few stairs or to the shop for a pint of milk is a bonus."

Mr Maciver doesn't admit he's in pain but when he limps around his home the strain is etched on his face.

He had to move from his first floor flat shortly after leaving hospital because he was still in a wheelchair.

And he's been unable to return to his job as an analytical development chemist at the Aptuit laboratory at the West of Scotland Science Park.

Mr Maciver said: "They paid me for eight months, which was great. They said if I'm better next year just to get in touch.

"But it could be another year before scar tissue and everything else heals up. I imagine I'll be in physiotherapy for a while."

His lawyer is pursuing helicopter manufacturer Bond for compensation.

Mr Maciver said: "For me, it will all depend on how it's going to affect the rest of my working life - how my legs are going to heal up.

"Am I going to be able to be on my feet for five or six hours a day in a laboratory?

"But I think of myself as one of the lucky ones. There were 10 people who didn't get out of there.

"I was injured very badly and it's a life changing thing but I just have to be thankful I'm still here.

"Who knows what the future holds. My life is on hold at the moment.

YOU are waiting to see what kind of compensation you'll get so that you can make decisions."

Mr Maciver is still struggling to come to terms with the tragedy and will be at a memorial service in Glasgow next Saturday with other survivors and the families of those who died.

He said: "It's only a couple of weeks ago I actually looked at footage and photographs online.

"I had never actually seen it because I was obviously unaware at the time. I wasn't at the last memorial service because I wasn't fit but I'm going this time for the people that aren't here.

"It might give me a bit of closure.

"Next Saturday night I was actually invited to go out by friends but I won't be going. It's a time to reflect on your own, I think."

Mr Maciver revealed he received a personal letter and a bottle of whisky from Prince Charles while he was in hospital.

The heir to the throne said he was "incredibly sorry" to discover the Clutha survivor was "still battling to recover" more than two months after the tragedy.

In the letter The Prince of Wales spoke of a recent visit to the Royal Infirmary and talked up the "special and dedicated" staff.

Signing the letter 'Charles', the prince added: "I pray you will soon be allowed to go home but, in the meantime, I enclose a small gift of 'medicine' to aid the healing process."

Mr Maciver was still a fortnight away from being discharged when the special delivery arrived.

He said: "The nurses told me a big parcel had arrived from Buckingham Palace and I thought it was a wind up at first.

"At that I time I was really wanting out. I was getting desperate. I couldn't sleep. I was in the ward with 10 others. It was hard to relax.

"So, I was elated when it arrived.

"It was just amazing that he would take time to do that.

"The letter was very personal and gave me lift."