Shocked residents have told how the driver of a runaway bin lorry was slumped ‘out cold’ over the wheel as it crashed through a front garden.
Homeowners said the massive vehicle left the road and ploughed through garden hedges before coming to a halt just yards from their properties.
The Glasgow City Council lorry careered into the front garden of a detached four-in-a-block building in the south side of Glasgow after the driver took ill this morning.
The incident happened around 11am at Croftside Avenue, in the city’s King’s Park area.
Emergency services were called to the leafy residential street with police and ambulance crews in attendance.
They arrived to find the driver unwell and he was taken to the city’s Victoria Infirmary.
No other casualties were reported in the incident but locals have said bad weather had kept children indoors and possibly helped prevent casualties.
Julie Beckett, 43, who stays two houses down from where the lorry came to a halt, said: “I opened the curtains just as it was happening and couldn’t believe it.
“The driver was slumped over the wheel and he looked out cold.
“The lorry wasn’t going very fast but I think the hedges stopped it coming through the houses.
“You could hear the engine of the truck coming down but it wasn’t going at any speed.
“Even still, there was a split second when I though it was coming straight for the house.
“The two other boys were outside of the truck working, I don’t know if they hit a stop button at the back of the truck to stop it.
“An ambulance turned up within a few minutes and another one arrived soon after and then the police arrived.”
Witness Kathy Allan, 58, said: “It’s quite a scary thing to happen.
“The street is usually quite busy with kids out playing but the bad weather has kept them in.
“I didn’t get a look at the driver when he was being taken away because there were so many people gathered round about him.
“It is a pretty tight street for the bin lorry to get up and down.
“You just don’t think anything like this will ever happen in your street.”
Rhonda McLay, 37, said: “If the weather had been better like last week, the kids could have been out playing on their scooters or something when it happened.
“After what happened in George Square at Christmas, this is a pretty scary thing to have happen in your street.”
The vehicle was moved by workers around two hours after the incident and an investigation is now underway.
A Glasgow City Council spokesman said: “We are aware of an incident in which a bin lorry left the road earlier this morning.
“The driver of the vehicle was taken to hospital to be checked over.
“It is a huge relief that no-one appears to have been injured.
“We are assisting the police with their enquiries.”
A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: “At 11.20am police and emergency services responded to reports of a bin lorry leaving the road and colliding with a garden hedge on Croftside Avenue, Glasgow.
“The driver has been taken to the Victoria Infirmary for observation. No-one has been injured as a result of the incident. The vehicle will be recovered in due course.”
The incident comes just after it was revealed a fatal accident inquiry into the tragic Glasgow bin lorry crash will look at the driver’s medical background and his fitness to hold a licence.
The probe will also consider the technical aspects of the vehicle itself and whether it was appropriate for it to take the route it did.
Six people died and 10 more were injured when the council bin lorry crashed into pedestrians in Glasgow city centre on 22 December.
The inquiry is due to start on 22 July.
A preliminary hearing for the inquiry, which is expected to last four weeks, was held at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Monday.