BBC hits back at Crown Office over Glasgow bin lorry documentary

The BBC has responded to prosecutors who slammed it for suggestions it made in a documentary on the Glasgow bin lorry crash.

Following criticism from the Lord Advocate, Frank Mulholland QC the BBC said it stood by the “integrity and accuracy of its journalism”.

In the documentary, the families said the decision not to prosecute driver Harry Clarke was taken by officials before they knew about Mr Clarke’s past – he had previously fainted while driving a bus and had not declared this to the DVLA.

It also claimed a senior Crown official called Mr Clarke a “fat, uneducated, west of Scotland” man.

Mr Mulholland and Crown agent Catherine Dyer have defended the prosecution service against the claims in a leaked statement.

The Lord Advocate claimed the Crown were fully aware of Mr Clarke’s driving record when they made the decision not to prosecute him.

Their statement said: “It was for these reasons that the Lord Advocate took the unprecedented step of telephoning the controller of BBC Scotland to seek to persuade him not to broadcast these defamatory statements.”

It added that the BBC refused a briefing from the Crown Office and that it had been contacted by staff asking for corrections to be made.

In a statement the BBC said: “We reject the general, but non-specific, criticisms reported to be in the Crown Office internal note to staff and which included one specific inaccuracy that we wish to correct.

“Their internal note reportedly claimed that BBC Scotland wrongly said the Crown was unaware the driver had had an episode of impaired consciousness at the wheel of a bus when it decided not to take criminal proceedings.

“The documentary did not make any such assertion.”

It added: “What we did report was that all the families featured are certain there was no mention of the loss of consciousness at the wheel of a bus at separate meetings between them and Crown officers in March.

“The families who spoke to us insist only that a loss of consciousness by the driver in a canteen was mentioned to them.”

The BBC added that while producing the programme it “engaged appropriately and comprehensively with the Crown Office and included responses they gave”.

It said: “That included a request for interview with the Lord Advocate on the issues raised, an offer that was declined, but which remains on offer.”