THE driver of a runaway bin lorry that killed six people in Glasgow  told medics he couldn’t remember what had happened.

In the aftermath of the tragedy Harry Clarke asked “have I had a heart attack?” 

The fourth day of a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) into the crash heard from an off duty nurse who treated Mr Clarke.

Staff nurse Lauren Mykoliw was at the Christmas Fair in George Square when she heard a loud bang and thought a part had fallen from the ‘big wheel’.

This was the sound of the lorry hitting the side of the Millennium Hotel.

Ms Mykoliw first rushed to the aid of the driver of a silver taxi that had been hit by the lorry before she was directed to Mr Clarke.

She found him in the cab, concious and with his seat belt on.

She told the inquiry: “He was pale, he looked shocked and a little bit sweaty.

“He asked me if he had had a heart attack.” She told him she couldn’t determine this. 

Ms Mykoliw, 28, said Mr Clarke said repeatedly that he didn’t know what had happened.

She said Mr Clarke did not complain of pain and said he “seemed well” given the circumstances.

The nurse spotted unopened beer bottles in the cab and asked Mr Clarke if he had been drinking and he said no.

The driver was then helped out of the lorry by firefighters, the inquiry heard. 

Paramedic Ronald Hewitson, 52, treated Mr Clarke on the ground beside the lorry.

He said he checked his blood pressure, oxygen saturation levels, blood sugar levels and did a heart trace and all produced normal results. 

The witness said: “He seemed slightly confused, slightly pale and I asked him if I could do checks which he agreed to.”

Mr Hewitson said: “Further on he asked if he had had a heart attack or some sort of event which at that point I couldn’t classify.” 

Mr Clarke told the medics that he could remember being at the lights before the crash and told Mr Hewitson the next thing he remembered was someone “shaking” him.

Erin McQuade, 18, and her grandparents Jack Sweeney, 68, and Lorraine Sweeney, 69, from Dumbarton, West Dunbartonshire, were struck and killed by the lorry.

Stephenie Tait, 29, and Jacqueline Morton, 51, both from Glasgow, and Gillian Ewing, 52, from Edinburgh, also died.

The inquiry also heard from a shopper who said he witnessed the driver of a bin lorry acting “slightly aggressively” and gesticulating towards a red Audi just before the Queen Street crash. 

Baker Andrew Wilson, 38, said the exchange took place at the junction of North Hanover Street and Cowcaddens Road.

He said this happened “around 40 minutes before the crash.”

Mr Wilson said: “As they approached the lights the car seemed to accidentally cut in front of the bin lorry.
“The driver of the bin lorry was beeping the horn and looked to be gesticulating slightly aggressively for a council employee towards a member of the public.”

The inquiry heard that it could not be determined if the lorry was being driven by Mr Clarke.

Both of the passengers in the lorry have previously told the inquiry that they do not recall the incident. Matthew Telford said it this was not something Harry Clarke would do, when asked. 

The inquiry also heard that risk assessments carried out on the bin lorry collection route did not take into account dangers when it was travelling through the streets.

Robert Soutar, 50, depot manager with Glasgow City Council’s refuse department, was asked by Mark Stewart QC, who is representing Sweeney and McQuade families: “Do you think a vehicle travelling in the public highway presents bigger danger to pedestrians than a stationary vehicle?”

“Of course it does, “ Mr Soutar said. 

The inquiry was told that there are no changes to routes to consider busy Christmas shopping periods and drivers were given no training in relation to special events.

Mr Stewart said: “What that tells the informed listener is that there is nothing but complacency in relation to the application of lessons that might be learned from a proper risk assessment.”

Mr Soutar agreed  with Peter Gray QC, who is representing the council, that risk assessment does not deal with general driving risks that any driver might encounter. 

He agreed it would not be practical to carry out a daily risk assessment and that Queen Street was open to all large vehicles, including HGVs and buses, on the day of the crash.

Consultant Mark Hill, a specialist in road vehicle collisions, has investigated the “human factors” of the tragedy.

He said that it lasted 19 seconds.

The witness mentioned other occasions when passengers have intervened when the driver of a  vehicles fell ill including on a light aircraft in 2013.

Mr Hill also spoke of a police officer climbing into a lorry in Essex in 2009 to take control and the passengers on a bus in Poland steering it to safety when the driver fell ill.
The inquiry, before Sheriff John Beckett, continues.