Glasgow bin lorry driver who killed six receives three-year road ban over separate incident

Harry Clarke also sentenced to community service at Sheriff Court hearing after pleading guilty

Harry Clarke was branded ‘irresponsible and reprehensible’ by the sentencing Sheriff (PA)

The driver of a bin lorry that crashed killing six people has been branded “reprehensible” as he was banned from the roads for three years for reckless driving in a separate incident nine months after the tragedy.

Harry Clarke admitted “culpably and recklessly” driving a car in Glasgow on 20 September 2015 to the danger of the public despite his licence having been revoked for medical reasons.

He was given a three-year driving ban, a community payback order with a 12-month supervision requirement and 150 hours’ unpaid work when he appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Friday after pleading guilty last month.

Clarke will also have to wear an electronic tag for four months under a restriction of liberty order, which means he cannot leave his home between 7pm and 7am.

Six people died in December 2014 when the refuse lorry lost control in the city centre.

Clarke had admitted driving in September 2015 in the knowledge he had suffered a loss of consciousness while at the wheel of a moving refuse collection vehicle on 22 December 2014, resulting in the deaths and leaving a further 15 people injured.

Sentencing Clarke, Sheriff Martin Jones told the 60-year-old he passed the “custody threshold” but that he was legally prevented from jailing him because he was a first offender.

He said: “You must understand that the decision you made to drive your vehicle on the road, even for a short distance, was one which was wholly irresponsible and reprehensible.

“It was highly culpable and placed the safety of the public at risk. That was a risk which had been fully explained to you and led to the revocation of your driving licence on medical grounds.

“You must have been acutely aware of the possible consequences of you suffering a loss of consciousness while driving following the tragic consequences arising from the incident on 22 December 2014.”

Clarke also knew he had suffered a loss of consciousness or episode of altered awareness while at the wheel of a stationary bus on 7 April 2010.

The charge stated that he knew or ought to have known that he was unfit to drive, and that there was a risk he might lose consciousness or suffer an episode of altered awareness while driving.

He was not prosecuted over the bin lorry crash, with the Crown Office insisting there was insufficient evidence to raise criminal proceedings.

Jack and Lorraine Sweeney, 68 and 69, and their granddaughter Erin McQuade, 18, Stephenie Tait, 29, Jacqueline Morton, 51, and Gillian Ewing, 52, died in the incident.

A fatal accident inquiry ruled that the crash might have been avoided if Clarke had told the truth about his medical history.

His licence was revoked indefinitely on medical grounds on 27 June 2015.

At the hearing last month, senior fiscal depute Martin Allan told the court neighbours called the police after seeing Clarke driving in Baillieston, Glasgow, on 20 September 2015.

He said: “Both were suspicious about his ability to drive because of the media coverage and they did some research online and found that his licence had been revoked on medical grounds.”

Police went to Clarke’s home on 22 September and he was cautioned and charged.

The court heard that he told police: “I have never been out on a public road, I’ve just moved the car in the private car park.”

Ross Yuill, defending Clarke, said his client drove from the residents’ car park of his block of flats through a tunnel onto Buchanan Street and parked near the main entrance to the building so that he could unload some heavy items, driving about 30 yards on the public road.

At approximately 10pm he drove the vehicle back into the car park and unloaded some more items.

He added: “He wholly accepts that that decision was a gross error of judgement.”

In a rare legal move, relatives of three crash victims sought permission from senior judges to bring charges against him in a private prosecution.

However, judges at the Appeal Court in Edinburgh ruled in November last year that the family could not launch a private prosecution.

Press Association