Bin lorry driver on trial over elderly man’s death

Tragedy occurred on road near Dunblane, Perthshire

A jury heard yesterday that a bin lorry driver, who went on trial yesterday, accused of causing the death of a stroke victim by reversing into his mobility scooter, made the fatal manoeuvre to let another vehicle pass on a country road – but did not use a “banksman” to check behind him before he did so.

Scott Hamilton had to back up to give an oncoming Audi space to get by on a single track road at Sheriffmuir, near Dunblane, Perthshire.

Mr Hamilton, 44, was driving a Stirling Council lorry, emptying recycling boxes, when the incident occurred on December 3 2014.

The High Court in Stirling heard he put the lorry into reverse after asking his assistant, Lee McEwan, then only 18, to check the nearside mirror – but neither of them noticed that retired teacher Peter Wills, 80, was behind them.

Mr McEwan, now 20, said the 7.5 tonne truck collided with Mr Wills’ fourmiles-per-hour scooter with a “thud”.

He said they had passed Mr Wills on his scooter a little earlier and he immediately realised what had happened.

He said: “We had to reverse to give the Audi space to get through.

“Scott just says if I could see anything in my mirror and I said ‘no’ and he put the motor into reverse.”

He continued: “We went back a few yards and then we heard the thud.”

Mr McEwan said Mr Wills’ scooter was lodged between two beams at the back of the lorry, and Mr Wills was on the road, bleeding from his head.

Emergency services were called and Hamilton gave Mr Wills CPR.

Paramedics arrived at 10.05am to find Mr Wills unconscious and with no pulse, with chest compressions being performed on him by Hamilton.

They took over until several doctors arrived by police helicopter, and he was pronounced dead at 10.42.

A post mortem revealed he died of multiple broken ribs, and a broken neck.

Mr McEwan told the advocate depute, Jane Farquharson, that he had received training in the role of “banksman”, or reversing assistant, from Stirling Council, but claimed because the lorry they were using was “smaller than the normal recycling lorries” it did not need a banksman to reverse.

He said: “I wasn’t asked to be a banksman on that vehicle – I was just emptying boxes.”

The driver of the Audi, Iain Dick, 60, said that at the point where he met the lorry, it was much easier for the lorry to reverse than it would have been for him.

He said: “I could sense that there could be a little bit of frustration that I was there, and was something that had to be overcome.”

After the collision Mr Dick said Hamilton was crying and said words to the effect of “I didn’t see him, I didn’t see him”.

Mr Wills’ widow, Viriginia, told the jury she had noticed a helicopter flying low above their home on the day in question. She said she “jumped in her car” to see what was happening, and came across a policeman.

“They took me back to the house, and wouldn’t let me back until they had prepared the body on the road,” she said.

Hamilton, of Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire, denies causing death by dangerous driving.

He is said to have caused his lorry to collide with Mr Wills’ motorised wheelchair in the incident on Sheriffmuir Road, near Dunblane, by reversing without taking “adequate steps” to ensure it was safe and the road behind him was clear, and without using and being guided by a trained banksman provided for the purpose.

The trial, before Lord Ericht, is expected to last several days.

Scott Hamilton denies causing death by dangerous driving.