Teenager tells how she survived bin lorry crash

Thirteen-year-old Danielle Dawson, of Glasgow, had been in the city centre to meet friends for a festive ice skating session in George Square when tragedy struck.

The brave youngster had just met up with fellow Scotland basketball team players Alix Stewart, 14, and 18-year-old Irene McAuley when the out-of-control lorry came speeding toward them.

All three were hit by the truck and suffered varying degrees of injury.

The trio had met seconds earlier at the Duke of Wellington statue in Royal Exchange Square.

Danielle recalled: “I remember I was at the statue – I just know it as the guy with the cone on his head. 

“I was with Irene and we walked from Queen Street to there, where we met Alix.

“I heard a scream and turned and looked over my shoulder. 

“I was standing closest to the Gallery of Modern Art.

“Irene was in the middle and Alix was on the outside by the pavement. The lorry was right there. I could just see green.”

Danielle added: “I heard screaming – I don’t know who it was – and turned round and saw green. And then I was in the air. “I was thrown three or four metres. I could see Irene but I couldn’t see Alix.”

Amazingly, Danielle escaped with only cuts and bruises as the bin lorry, which killed six people and injured 10 others, hit her right shoulder.

She was thrown into the air and initially tried to get back on her feet before falling to the ground as shock kicked in.

Within seconds, young mother Claire Wright, who had been close by, went to her aid and wrapped her in a woollen coat. Danielle’s pregnant mother, Karen, was heading to Glasgow’s Royal Infirmary for a pre-natal scan when she learned that her daughter had been involved.

Karen said: “We were making our way to hospital and I noticed that I had missed calls from Danielle and from my sister, Lisa. Lisa told me that a woman called Claire had called to tell her that Danielle had been involved in an accident, and she was being taken to the Royal Infirmary as well.

“I couldn’t think. I just went numb. I was fearing the worst.

“When we arrived at the hospital, we could hear people saying that six had died. My partner, Sandy, took my hand and we went to the reception to find out what we could. 

“We were told there that Danielle was sitting up and speaking and that she was on her way to the hospital.”

She continued: “We were going to cancel the scan but they took me in and gave me a five-minute scan to make sure that everything was okay because they were worried about what the shock might have done.

“When we got back to A&E, Danielle was there and Sandy and I went in. 

“We looked at her and she looked at us and we just broke down. 

“We ended up all cuddling each other.”

--------------------------------------------

1,000 AT FUNERAL

AROUND 1,000 people attended the funeral for three members of the same family killed during the tragic accident.

Mourners at St Patrick’s RC Church, Dumbarton, remembered Jack Sweeney, his wife Lorraine and their granddaughter Erin McQuade, 18.

The funeral of Jacqueline Morton, 51, a mother-of-two, from Ruchazie, Glasgow, was also held on Saturday.

The service was at Daldowie Crematorium in Lanarkshire.

Gillian Ewing, 52, of Edinburgh, was laid to rest last week and the funeral of Stephenie Tait, 29, will be at St Thomas Apostle Church in Riddrie, Glasgow, today.