I haven’t been hiding, says Harry Clarke, and I wish I could tell you what happened but I can’t

The driver of the bin lorry that killed six people in Glasgow’s George Square just before Christmas has said that he thinks of the victims of the crash “every minute of every day”.

Speaking for the first time since the accident, Harry Clarke, who collapsed unconscious at the wheel of the council vehicle before it mounted a pavement and ploughed through lunchtime shoppers, said: “I understand a lot of people want to know what happened that day. I wish I could tell you but I can’t. I never had anything wrong with my heart until that day.”

In an interview with the Daily Record, the 58-year-old added: “I just want all the families of injured or deceased victims to know I can’t remember anything – I wish I could but I was unconscious.

Glasgow bin lorry crash driver released from hospital Read more

“I have racked my brains to try to remember but I can’t. I will never know what happened other than other people telling me what they saw. Every day is a struggle.”

Thanking the public for their support, and the media for not hounding his family, Clarke said he was speaking out because he didn’t want the families of the victims to think he had been hiding.

“I’ve felt awful not speaking out before now but I was in hospital and my health hasn’t really improved much at all. I am not saying that to get sympathy, I don’t want that, but I don’t want the families to think I have been hiding. I haven’t. I am just anxious that I don’t upset anyone. Now I feel I need to make a statement to ensure everyone knows I grieve for everyone involved in the accident.”

He added: “I have have worked all my life. I just lived a normal life. Nothing will ever be normal for me or any of the families ever again. I think of everyone every minute of every day.”

Last week, Police Scotland submitted its initial report into the crash to the Crown Office, which is expected to make a decision by the end of the month on any criminal proceedings or the holding of a fatal accident inquiry. Experts have warned that this could take years to complete.

John Morton, the brother of Jacqueline, 51, a tax office worker who died in the crash, last week condemned the “wall of silence” surrounding the accident, saying the slow pace of the inquiry was heaping “pain upon suffering” on the bereaved.

