Those were the days

1960: Two workmen die in scaffolding collapse

TWO workmen were killed and another two were injured when scaffolding collapsed on to the pavement of Argyle Street, Glasgow, on May 30, 1960.

Bystanders helped police, firefighters and salvage workers in desperate attempts to free those who were buried under tons of iron tubing, planks and metalwork. Police diverted traffic from the street, and tram services were halted.

The four men, who worked as steel erectors, were engaged in moving the scaffolding, which reached up to the fourth floor and extended some 50 yards along the front of Lewis’s Polytechnic building.

The scaffolding, which was for the use of painters working on the store windows, collapsed at 6.45pm. Immediately, reported the Glasgow Herald, “men hurried from the opposite pavement and, without delay and thought of personal injury, began to tug and wrestle with the fallen structure.

“It was a scene reminiscent of the ‘blitz’, with prompt and selfless aid being brought before the dust had time to clear.”

After a 15ft piece of tube had been used as a lever, a welder with an oxy-acetylene cutter sliced through a number of twisted, locked cubes to help rescue one of the injured men.

Bailie PG Forrester, who arrived on the scene a few minutes after the collapse, said: “It is wonderful the way the people of Glasgow have helped. Look at them – policemen, firemen, workmen, yes, and teddy boys, civilians with no reason whatever to risk themselves.”

One eye-witness said the first hint of the accident was a roar as if a squadron of jet aircraft had suddenly flown low overhead. A tram-driver said he had been “petrified” watching the scaffolding come down.

Lewis’s store, with 1,000 staff, was Glasgow’s largest retail store.