‘ Forgotten’ disaster wreaked utter havoc
A FEW weeks ago I wrote that in this approximately chronological history of Glasgow, I would be spending some time on the year 1971 as it was undoubtedly a history- making year for the city.
Sadly, some of that history was terrible for Glasgow, as the year began with the Ibrox Disaster in which 66 people lost their lives.
A second deadly disaster occurred in Greater Glasgow that year. On Thursday, October 21, 1971, a huge gas explosion at Clarkston just south of the city devastated a suburban shopping centre, killing 22 people and injuring up to 100 others. It was the worst non- industrial peacetime explosion in Scotland in terms of fatalities.
The weather had been wet and windy, and the centre was not as busy as it could have been, or the death toll would have been much worse.
The explosion occurred shortly before 3pm at the Clarkston Toll Shopping Centre in East Renfrewshire. It is often referred to as the forgotten disaster, and just the other day I spoke to a young woman in south Glasgow who knew nothing about it – that’s one reason I’m telling the story even though I know the memory of it still affects relatives and friends of those who were killed. Proof of that assertion is that I visited the memorial tree at Clarkston Halls yesterday and fresh flowers had been laid – I gather that constantly happens.
There had been a strong smell of gas in and around the centre for days beforehand. Gas Board engineers had attended but could find no source for the leak. They had returned to the site and were still trying to find out what was causing the smell of gas when the explosion occurred.
A huge fireball tore through the centre, destroying shops and sending debris flying everywhere around it, while the rooftop car park collapsed, sending vehicles crashing down into the morass of concrete, glass and wooden fittings.
The East Kilbride bus had just stopped outside the centre and two women passengers who had alighted from the bus were killed. One of them was the reigning Scottish badminton champion Maureen Hume, who was just 30.
From across Glasgow and beyond, the emergency services raced to Clarkston, while ordinary members of the public joined the rescue effort, tearing at rubble with their bare hands and ignoring the fact that there was still a strong smell of gas.
As the day wore on, body after body was removed from the rubble. It soon became clear that the number of dead would be in double figures, while dozens were rushed to hospital in a fleet of ambulances. Many who survived sustained lifealtering, and possibly life- shortening, injuries – no tally was kept of such victims.
There was no internet in those days and rolling news coverage on television was a thing of the future, but Glaswegians watched that evening’s television news or listened to the radio bulletins to learn of the mounting death toll.
It soon emerged that 21 people had been killed and were declared dead at the scene or on arrival at hospital. A 22nd victim died later in hospital. Of the dead, 20 were women, both shop workers and shoppers, while two men also died.
The disaster happened despite the fact that the six- year- old shops were all electric. Unbeknown to the occupiers, a gas main had been provided more than a metre underground to cater for future gas customers. Due to corrosion and poor protection, the main had fractured and gas was leaking into the cellars and basements of the shops which had no ventilation.
The authorities reacted by commissioning a full expert investigation prior to a 19- day Fatal Accident Inquiry ( FAI) – the longest in Scottish history to that point - at Paisley where the Solicitor General for Scotland, David Brand QC, later a distinguished judge, questioned witnesses.
The FAI heard that the day before the explosion, Scottish Gas Board engineers inspected the site but no source of the gas was found. They were still on site when it is presumed the gas in the basement came into contact with a naked light and erupted through the shops above, destroying ten of them and badly damaging another five, which in turn caused the rooftop car park to collapse.
One expert calculated the exploding gas had travelled through the centre at 7000ft per second and the explosion had the force of a bomb weighing 300lbs to 600lbs.
The FAI concluded with the jury’s unanimous verdict that they were unable to apportion blame to any in
From across Glasgow and beyond, the emergency services raced to Clarkston
dividual or organisation, a finding that angers victims’ families to this day. The jury did make recommendations that local authorities and organisations like the Gas Board should work more closely together and that unventilated spaces under buildings should not be allowed.
When I wrote about the disaster on its 50th anniversary, reader Fiona Johnston commented: “This remains a shocking memory for me. I was in school over one mile away when we heard a very loud bang. Staff had reported the smell for days then were told there wasn’t enough gas to kill a mouse. The public inquiry was a shocking whitewash with a report of a few pages. It was all dismissed in 19 days with a comment that ‘ it could have been worse’. As all but one victim were ‘ just housewives’, compensation was limited to £ 50 per family.”
That misogynistic view is happily gone, and were a similar disaster to occur today, compensation would be in the millions. I don’t believe there should be a statute of limitations on such compensation.
The names of the dead are recorded on a memorial plaque unveiled by East Renfrewshire Provost Allan Steele in 2002. In alphabetical order they are Jemima Brander, Audrey Davidson, Mary Devlin, Eliza- Jane Donaldson, Elizabeth Donaldson, Karen Fisher, Veronica Fox, Max Freeman, Helen Geekie, Barbara Harper, Agnes Henderson ( referred to as Lady on the memorial plaque), Maureen Hume, Margaret MacKay, John McDermott, Etty Patullo, Janet Ratcliffe, Agnes Sands, Jeannie Smith, Patricia Sprott, Jean Strain, Margaret Sturdy and Christine Wallace.
The Clarkston Disaster and those who died and were injured on that fateful day must never be forgotten and I hope a planned new memorial to them will be forthcoming.