Crash driver’s 300 GP visits
Doctor tells inquiry he has never seen a record like it
A DOCTOR has told the George Square bin lorry crash inquiry that he has never before seen a medical record like driver Harry Clarke’s
Former Stagecoach doctor Daniel Rutherford agreed under cross-examination the 58-year-old had been “back and forward” to doctors more than 300 times with cases of dizziness, giddiness and vertigo.
He said: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a patient’s notes quite like Mr Clarke’s.
“There’s something in every decade from the 1970s onwards and the common thread through all of this is that he’s a professional driver.”
Specialist expert Dr Ronald Neville said a blackout suffered by Mr Clarke in April 2010 should have resulted in Mr Clarke being told not to drive and to notify the DVLA.
A GP’s letter about Mr Clarke failed to detail where the fainting episode took place. Notes suggested it was in a hot canteen, but the fatal accident inquiry has heard it was on a stationary bus.
THE driver of the George Square bin lorry crash has visited his GP more than 300 times, with one doctor telling the inquiry into the incident he has not seen a medical record quite like it.
Harry Clarke’s medical notes show hundreds of entries dating back to 1976, including several complaints of dizziness, giddiness and vertigo.
The 58-year-old was driving a Glasgow City Council truck when he lost consciousness at the wheel and the lorry veered out of control, killing six people just days before Christmas last year.
Dr Daniel Rutherford, a former doctor for bus firm Stagecoach, told the Fatal Accident Inquiry that he would have advised Mr Clarke to stop driving and notify the DVLA prior to the disaster if he had seen his medical records.
He also argued that the current DVLA set-up is a “weak system” that relies too much on the word of the driver and recommended a software program be developed to help doctors with fitness-to-drive decisions.
Looking at Mr Clarke’s medical records, Solicitor General Lesley Thomson put it to the doctor that the driver “is a man who’s been back and forward to the doctor over 300 times”. Dr Rutherford agreed. During questioning by Dorothy Bain, QC, who called the medic as a witness on behalf of the family of victim Jacqueline Morton, he also said: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a patient’s notes quite like Mr Clarke’s.
“There’s something in every decade from the 70s onwards and the common thread through all of this is that he’s a professional driver.”
Miss Bain also put it to Dr Rutherford that, had Mr Clarke disclosed his past medical history when applying for jobs, “he would never have been driving an HGV in December 2014”. The witness agreed.
She added: “And the disaster would never have happened?” Dr Rutherford replied: “Yes.” The hearing at Glasgow Sheriff Court also heard evidence from Dr Ronald Neville, a specialist who produces GP expert reports, who claimed there was a “crucial omission” in a doctor’s report on a previous blackout suffered by Mr Clarke in April 2010.
Dr Neville said the letter from Mr Clarke’s GP, Dr John Langan, lacked “due diligence” because it failed to detail where the faint took place.
The inquiry has previously heard that Mr Clarke’s GP and an occupational health doctor for his employers at the time, First Bus, received differing versions of events.
The GP notes showed that it happened in a hot canteen, while the doctor from the bus firm noted that it was while on a bus.
Miss Thomson asked Dr Neville if he felt that the letter from Dr Langan to the First Bus doctor, which said Mr Clarke had passed out in a hot environment, was adequate.
The witness replied: “My view on Dr Langan’s report was it lacked due diligence in that it failed to pick up a very important issue – where the events occurred.”
He added it also failed to mention the DVLA guidelines or give detail of “any substantive medical history that might be rele- vant”. The doctor added: “All in all, I felt the letter from Dr Langan lacked a lot and had a crucial omission.”
When asked by Sheriff John Beckett what that crucial omission was, he replied the failure to detail the location of the blackout and pick up on the discrepancy between the accounts.
Dr Neville also told the inquiry that, in his opinion, the blackout as noted by the First Bus doctor – at the wheel of a stationary bus – should have resulted in Mr Clarke being told not to drive and to notify the DVLA.
Erin McQuade, 18, her grandparents Jack Sweeney, 68, and Lorraine Sweeney, 69, all from Dumbarton, died when the bin lorry being driven by Mr Clarke lost control in Queen Street and George Square on December 22.
Stephenie Tait, 29, and Ms Morton, 51, both from Glasgow, and Gillian Ewing, 52, from Edinburgh, were also killed when the refuse truck mounted the pavement before crashing into a hotel.
The inquiry, at Glasgow Sheriff Court, continues.