Glasgow Council loses claim against bus firm over bin lorry crash
The £6.5million legal bid against Harry Clarke's former employer has been thrown out.
Last updated 27th Jan 2022
Glasgow City Council has lost a £6.5 million legal bid against First Bus, the former employer of bin lorry driver Harry Clarke.
Mr Clarke collapsed at the wheel of a 26-tonne lorry in Glasgow city centre in December 2014 - causing it to steer out of control.
Six people were killed in the bin lorry crash and over a dozen were injured.
Lawyers for the council sued First Glasgow last year, claiming it acted negligently by failing to provide its HR department with a reference for Mr Clarke.
The council's lawyers alleged the bus firm failed to give information about when Mr Clarke passed out at the wheel a few years previous to the crash.
Lawyers argued the firm breached a duty of care to the crash victims as a result.
However, a judge threw the action out and said the council had failed to chase the bus company's HR department about Mr Clarke's reference.
He said the evidence showed a former manager of Mr Clarke's called Frank McCann, told him an HR employee named Darryl Turner was the person to contact for writing references.
But, despite Mr Clarke telling his employers about the need to contact Mr Turner for references, the judge concluded the council failed to follow this up.
Lord Ericht wrote:
"There was no evidence from... emails or any other source that anyone from the pursuer (Glasgow City Council) had acted on the information received from Mr Clarke that a reference would require to be requested from Mr Turner rather than Mr McCann, and emailed or otherwise contacted Mr Turner requesting a reference."
He said:
"I find that no reference was received from Mr Turner."
Lord Ericht concluded the council's case had failed after it was unable to provide evidence showing that the bus firm had acted negligently.
The £6.5 million would have compensated the council for the money it paid to the relatives of those were killed in the collision.
Crown lawyers decided not to prosecute Clarke due to there being "insufficient evidence" to show he had broken the law.