An official inquiry has found that Harry Clarke, who drove the bin lorry that crashed in Glasgow killing six people last December, deliberately misled doctors about his medical history, Sky News has reported.
The formal findings of the fatal accident inquiry (FAI) into the bin lorry crash, which happened three days before Christmas after Clarke fainted at the wheel, leaving another 15 people injured, are due to be released at noon on Monday.
Sky said sources close to the case have disclosed that the report by Sheriff John Beckett will rule that Clarke also “deliberately concealed relevant information from the DVLA” about his medical history, including blackouts, dizzy spells, heart problems, vertigo and tension headaches dating back to 1976.
Clarke, 58, also “repeatedly lied in order to gain and retain jobs and licences”, Sky said. Beckett is expected to rule that the crash could have been prevented if reasonable precautions had been taken.
Beckett’s ruling comes after the FAI this summer heard detailed evidence that Clarke had failed to tell doctors working for his employers, First Bus and Glasgow city council, about his health problems.
He had fainted at the wheel of a bus in 2010 but failed to disclose that to Glasgow council before becoming a minibus driver, then a bin lorry driver. Beckett said Clarke misled First Bus medical staff about what happened in that incident and where it happened.
Sky quotes the FAI report as saying: “Mr Clarke deceived all three doctors in the hope that he would be able to return to work sooner rather than later so that he would not lose his job with First … None of the doctors who saw Mr Clarke advised him to notify DVLA of this event and he did not do so.”
Clarke, who was arrested in October for allegedly driving a car without a licence, which had been withdrawn by the DVLA earlier this year, resigned from the council just before he was due to attend a disciplinary hearing.
Families of some of the victims are reportedly preparing to launch a private prosecution against Clarke over the crash, after Scotland’s chief prosecutor, Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland, ruled out charging him for either negligence or concealing his medical history.
Crown Office lawyers decided Clarke could not have reasonably predicted he would have fainted that day. The Sunday Mail reported that the families of Erin McQuade, 18, and her grandparents Jack, 68, and Lorraine Sweeney, 69, all from Dumbarton, are behind the legal action.
Giving evidence to the FAI in August, Clarke refused to answer scores of questions about his medical history. He said his last memory before the incident was of fainting which he described as “a bang, just like a light switch”.
