Erin McQuade was eighteen years old, Christmas shopping with her grandparents Jack and Lorraine Sweeney on the afternoon of 22 December 2014. They were among the crowds filling Glasgow's city center three days before Christmas when a council bin lorry veered out of control on Queen Street, mounting the pavement and plowing through pedestrians for 19 seconds before coming to rest at the Millennium Hotel on George Square. Six people were dead. Fifteen were injured. The driver, Harry Clarke, said he had blacked out.
The bin lorry, a green DAF CF 75-310, was traveling along Queen Street at around 2:30 in the afternoon when Clarke lost consciousness. With no one able to intervene -- the two other crew members were wearing seatbelts that prevented them from reaching the handbrake, and the vehicle had no emergency stop system -- the lorry traveled uncontrolled through one of Glasgow's busiest pedestrian areas. Erin McQuade and her grandparents were killed together. Stephenie Tait, 29, and Jacqueline Morton, 51, both Glaswegian women, and Gillian Ewing, 52, originally from Edinburgh, also died. The crash ended at George Square, the heart of Glasgow's Christmas celebrations.
What emerged in the subsequent fatal accident inquiry was damning. Clarke's medical history contained episodes of dizziness and fainting dating back to the 1970s. He had previously suffered a blackout while sitting at the wheel of a First Glasgow bus -- the bus was stationary at a stop, but Clarke was behind the controls of a vehicle in service. His GP and the bus company's doctor failed to catch that Clarke had changed his account of the incident, telling his GP it happened in the canteen rather than the driver's seat. Clarke was passed fit to drive. He then lied about his medical history when applying for a heavy goods vehicle licence and again when applying to Glasgow City Council for the job that put him behind the wheel of the bin lorry.
The Crown Office determined in February 2015 that no criminal charges would be brought against Clarke or the council. The reasoning was stark: because Clarke was unconscious at the moment of the crash, he lacked "the necessary criminal state of mind required for a criminal prosecution." This decision enraged the families of the victims, who argued that Clarke's deliberate concealment of his medical history should have been the focus. The DVLA admitted that its self-declaration system had a fundamental weakness, allowing applicants to be assessed by doctors who did not have access to their full medical records. Clarke's driving licence was revoked in June 2015, and he was banned from driving heavy goods vehicles for ten years.
The bereaved families attempted to bring a private prosecution against Clarke, but this too was ultimately ruled out in December 2016. The inquiry revealed that no reference from First Glasgow to Glasgow City Council could be found, meaning Clarke's previous employer had either not been contacted or had provided no information about the bus incident. Clarke refused to answer questions at the inquiry. The systematic failures -- a driver who lied, doctors who missed the lies, a licensing system built on trust, and an employer who failed to check -- left the families with accountability from no one.
On the evening after the crash, the Christmas lights on George Square were switched off and the attractions closed. Flags on Scottish Government buildings flew at half-mast. Coming just thirteen months after the Clutha helicopter disaster, the bin lorry crash deepened a sense that Glasgow was enduring more than its share of senseless loss. The council eventually purchased the bin lorry outright and stored it at a secret location, intending to scrap it out of respect for the families. The square has since returned to its seasonal celebrations, but for six families, the approach to Christmas will always carry the weight of that December afternoon.
George Square sits at 55.86°N, 4.25°W in the center of Glasgow, immediately east of Queen Street Station. The square is one of Glasgow's most prominent open spaces, flanked by the City Chambers to the east. Nearest airport: Glasgow International (EGPF, 6 nm west). The crash route ran along Queen Street from north to south, ending at the square. The dense urban center is visible from above; the square itself is identifiable by its rectangular green space and surrounding civic buildings.