Glasgow Bin Lorry Prosecution Hearing In Autumn

9 June 2016, 15:24 | Updated: 9 June 2016, 18:07

A full hearing for judges to examine the bid to bring a private prosecution against Glasgow bin lorry crash driver Harry Clarke will be held in the autumn, a court has heard.

Scotland's top judge said that a two-day hearing should take place in October or November, with the exact date not yet arranged.

Mr Clarke was driving the bin lorry when it went out of control in Queen Street in December 2014. Six people were killed in the collision.

The family of crash victims Jack and Lorraine Sweeney and their granddaughter Erin McQuade are pursuing the court bid, which follows a previous Crown Office decision not to prosecute Mr Clarke, who had blacked out behind the wheel.

Stephenie Tait, Jacqueline Morton and Gillian Ewing also died in the incident.

The judges have further been asked to consider a similar application to prosecute William Payne, lodged by the families of students Mhairi Convy and Laura Stewart, who were knocked down and killed in Glasgow in 2010.

The Lord Justice General Lord Carloway, with Lady Smith and Lord Brodie, sat on Thursday to hear a second procedural hearing on the Bill for Criminal Letters - the relevant legal paperwork previously submitted by the families.

Details of the hearing at the Appeal Court in Edinburgh cannot be reported for legal reasons.

Concluding the hearing, the Lord Justice General told the court he wanted the case to progress as soon as practically possible.