Glasgow bin lorry crash: CCTV footage of Christmas accident shown in court

'One couple threw a buggy containing a three-year-old child onto the road to avoid the truck'

A court in Glasgow has been shown CCTV footage of the moment a bin lorry lost control and careered on to a pavement in the city just days before Christmas in 2014, killing six pedestrians.

The graphic video was shown to the court on the first day of the inquiry into the accident, which began with a minute's silence to remember the victims of the tragedy.

On 22 December, Christmas shoppers on Queen Street in Glasgow had to flee the path of the bin lorry when the driver lost control of the vehicle. The court heard reports from witnesses describing the driver, Harry Clarke, as "unconscious" and "slumped forward" with his hands still on the steering wheel.

One couple threw a buggy containing a three-year-old child on to the road to avoid the truck, which had mounted the pavement.

The bin lorry mounted the pavement before returning to the road where it veered into cars before crashing into a hotel.

The inquiry was told there was nothing to suggest that Mr Clarke lost control of the truck in a deliberate act. Neither were the condition of the vehicle, the road surface nor driver visibility a cause of the tragedy.

Sheriff John Beckett offered his condolences to family members and said: "I can only imagine the shock, pain and anguish which you have suffered following your sudden and terrible loss.

"I extend my sympathy also to all of those who were injured and traumatised." The family members of the victims were not present in the courtroom when the video was shown.

Erin McQuade, 18, her grandparents Jack Sweeney, 68, and Lorraine Sweeney, 69, Stephenie Tait, 29, and Jacqueline Morton, 51, and Gillian Ewing, 52, were all killed.

All the victims died from "multiple injuries, the pattern of which was consistent with being struck by a large, heavy vehicle", the court was told.