Lorry tragedy crew ‘could reach brake’
‘Could be reached quite simply’
THE handbrake in the runaway bin lorry that killed six people could be reached ‘quite simply’ from the back of the cab, an expert claimed yesterday.
Philip Balderstone told the fatal accident inquiry into the Glasgow tragedy he had examined the vehicle and found it was possible to deploy the handbrake from the rear crew seats.
The inquiry has heard the lorry veered out of control after driver Harry Clarke passed out at the wheel. Sitting in the rear section of the cab were Matthew Telford and Henry Toal, neither of whom were able to stop the vehicle.
The lorry came to a stop only when it slammed into the Millennium Hotel on George Square.
On day three of the inquiry yesterday, Mr Balderstone, a vehicle examiner for the Transport Research Laboratory, gave evidence on a report he had prepared on the accident.
He confirmed that, from the back of the cab, he could reach the brake lever and apply it ‘reasonably easily’.
But he said it would have been more difficult while seated and wearing a seat belt. He also said a degree of training would have been required.
The inquiry has heard that neither Mr Telford nor Mr Toal tried to use the handbrake and both thought it was out of reach. Neither had training in operating the front controls of the lorry and neither could drive.
A photograph of the vehicle examiner stretching over a yellow safety bar towards the controls was shown at the Glasgow Sheriff Court hearing. Mr Balder- stone said he was able to apply the handbrake lever ‘ comfortably’ while standing, without a seat belt on.
His report said the ability to engage the lever would depend on a person’s size, dexterity and mobility. He said: ‘For myself, it was quite easy to lean forward over the top of the barrier and apply the brake.
‘For someone else, it depends how close they can get to the barrier, the length of their arms, their ability to lean over the top of the barrier or, as an alternative, to go under the barrier.’
He agreed with Solicitor General Lesley Thomson, for the Crown, that it might be more difficult for someone shorter or fatter.
Earlier, Mr Telford had told the inquiry that he is 5ft 3in.
Mr Balderstone also agreed that a passenger would have to be trained in the vehicle controls to know what they were touching and what it would do if engaged.
The Solicitor General asked: ‘Would it be within general knowledge that a handbrake is in some way going to stop a vehicle?’
Mr Balderstone said: ‘ You would have thought so.’
Mr Telford had told the inquiry that he had shouted at and punched Mr Clarke in the back to try to rouse him and that his slumped body prevented him accessing the controls.
Asked if he could have reached the handbrake with or without a seatbelt, he replied: ‘I don’t think so.’
Mr Toal said it did not occur to him to engage the handbrake and he did not think he would have been able to do it using his foot.
He was shown the photograph of Mr Balderstone standing to reach the handbrake and was asked: ‘Do you know if you could reach that?’
He said no and, asked if he would know what to do if he could reach it, he again said no, that he had not been trained for it.
The men escaped with minor injuries from the crash on December 22 last year.
Mr Balderstone said the footbrake and handbrake could be used to slow or stop a vehicle, the other options being switching off the engine or putting the vehicle into neutral.
His report said: ‘ When the driver is incapacitated, it is not beyond reason that these tasks could be attempted by any other occupant of the vehicle.’
The vehicle examiner said that i f new technology known as autonomous emergency braking had been fitted in the lorry, it would not have made much difference because the system cannot identify pedestrians.
He added that an easy- tooperate emergency braking system accessible from the rear was the ‘relatively cheaper option’.
Erin McQuade, 18, and her grandparents, Jack Sweeney, 68, and Lorraine Sweeney, 69, from Dumbarton, died after being hit by the bin lorry.
Stephenie Tait, 29, and Jacqueline Morton, 51, both of Glasgow, and Gillian Ewing, 52, from Edinburgh, were also killed.
The inquiry, before Sheriff John Beckett, QC, continues.