Bin lorry driver ‘is too sick to attend hearing’
BIN lorry crash driver Harry Clarke has failed to attend a disciplinary hearing because of ill health.
Mr Clarke faced an investigation by his employer, Glasgow City Council, into possible gross misconduct.
The hearing had been due to take place immediately after a fatal accident inquiry into the tragedy in which six people died.
Mr Clarke collapsed at the wheel of a bin lorry on December 22 last year, causing the 26-ton lorry to mount the pavement in Glasgow city centre
He was suspended by the council after it emerged during the FAI that he had not disclosed previous fainting attacks on job applications and DVLA forms.
But disciplinary proceedings were put on hold after the 58-year- old reportedly told the council, through
Could be halted indefinitely
his union, that he was not medically fit to take part.
A fortnight ago, Mr Clarke spent two days giving evidence at the FAI, during which he repeatedly refused to answer questions for fear of incriminating himself. He might never have been employed by the council if it had known of his medical history, the inquiry heard.
But any possible action against him by his employer could now be delayed. Alternatively, it is understood the disciplinary hearing could be held in his absence.
A council spokesman said: ‘ We cannot comment on individual employees and we will not be giving a running commentary on disciplinary matters.’
Those who died in the crash were 18-year-old Erin McQuade, and her grandparents Jack Sweeney, 68, and Lorraine Sweeney, 69, all from Dumbarton; Stephenie Tait, 29, and Jacqueline Morton, 51, both from Glasgow; and Gillian Ewing, 52, from Edinburgh.
Mr Clarke told the FAI that he blacked out ‘like a light switch’.
Following the tragedy, he continued working at the council’s Shieldhall waste depot, although he did not resume driving duties. But eight months later, following evidence heard at the FAI, Glasgow City Council suspended him.
At the time, a spokesman said this had been done ‘on a precautionary basis pending a full disciplinary investigation’.
He added: ‘These allegations have yet to be put to Mr Clarke and he has not yet had the opportunity of responding to them. The internal investigation will therefore take place at the conclusion of the FAI.’
The f i ndings of the FAI are expected to be published before January. However, the council’s investigation is now uncertain.
The authority has the right to seek a second opinion on Mr Clarke’s current health from a doctor who is not his GP. If he is passed fit, the probe can go ahead. If not, it could be halted indefinitely.
Mr Clarke has a history of headaches, dizziness and vertigo, dating back to 1976.
The FAI heard he suffered a fainting fit behind the wheel of a First Bus i n April 2010. However, although a letter from First Bus doctor Dr Kenneth Lyons clearly stated that this happened on a stationary bus, the driver told a different version of the story, suggesting he had fainted in a hot staff canteen.
Mr Clarke has now been diagnosed as having neurocardiogenic syncope, a fainting condition which causes sufferers to briefly lose consciousness due to an interruption in the blood supply to the brain.
The inquiry heard he hid his 2010 fainting fit from Glasgow City Council and failed to tell bosses he had been signed off for three-anda-half weeks afterwards.