M9 FAI: Police call centre boss tells of 'chaos and disarray'

Laura Henderson was giving evidence today (Wednesday) at Falkirk Sheriff Court at the inquiry into the deaths of a Falkirk couple whose car left the M9 motorway and lay undiscovered by police for three days despite a call being made by someone who spotted the vehicle.

She was centre manager at Police Scotland's service centre at Bilston Glen, Midlothian, when a police sergeant working an overtime shift to cover staff shortages, took a 101 call, from a farmer, reporting a crashed car beside the M9 at Bannockburn in July 2015.

But he did not create an entry on the force's command and control system in respect of the call, meaning area control rooms were unaware of it.

Emergency services were sent to the scene three days later, after a second person reported seeing the crashed car.

By then John Yuill, 28, was already dead, and Lamara Bell, 25, who had a significant head injury, was partially conscious and "writhing in pain".

She was flown to hospital in Glasgow where she later died.

Mrs Henderson, 47, formerly manager of Fife Constabulary's contact centre at Glenrothes, said she got the manager's job at Bilston Glen when the new "virtual" centre there was being brought on stream following the creation of Police Scotland from the country's eight former smaller forces.

The inquiry heard that the former Central Scotland Police control room in Stirling was closed in January 2015, with Glenrothes shutting in March and the functions of both being rolled into Bilston Glen.

Mrs Henderson said before she transferred to Bilston Glen that March she already knew the new centre would be facing staff shortages, because of the number of personnel transferring from Fife and the volume of calls she knew that Glenrothes centre normally received.

She told the inquiry: "For that reason I had concern about the resources available."

She said the question of how there would be enough staff was "openly discussed in chats".

Crown counsel Gavin Anderson KC asked: "Did you ever receive an answer to that question?"

Mrs Henderson replied: "No."

Asked what she found on her first day at Bilston Glen, in March 2015, four months before the tragedy, she said: "When I arrived at Bilston Glen I could describe it as being in a state of disarray, or underdeveloped. There were issues with all aspects, such as performance, resources and processes and concerns about new recruits' training.

"The issues were not something that could be easily or quickly fixed. It was slightly chaotic and disorganised as a result of almost the absence of a structure.

"We had just amalgamated Stirling into Bilston Glen in the January then Glenrothes came in the March, staff had transferred from other areas but didn't necessarily have the skills to deal with what they were dealing with.

"There were some gaps, which led to them not knowing what they were supposed to be doing. There was almost like a lack of vision.

"The team leaders were unfamiliar [with some of the systems] and had never used some of them before.

"I understood myself that with such a large change taking place you're not expecting everything to be perfect on day one. But it was almost like every element of what I was supposed to manage was underdeveloped, or not where I expected it to be.

"I didn't think it would be as bad."

Mrs Henderson said they did not have enough staff at some times of the day, new customer contact software at Bilston Glen was unreliable, "failed regularly" and came up with "irrelevant" advice, and as a result staff confidence in using it was low.

The inquiry heard that one IT official had described systems at Bilston Glen as "a nightmare – beset and beleaguered with technical issues".

Mrs Henderson said that by April 2015 she was finding herself "overwhelmed" with work, but she was provided with additional assistance in May which eased the pressure and had a gradual impact on improving systems.

The inquiry heard earlier Sir Stephen House, the force's then chief constable, was warned in April that staffing shortages at Bilston Glen were "critical".

Sir Stephen made it clear that fixing the issue was the force's "single most important priority" and all the board members of the Scottish Police Authority and the Scottish Justice Secretary, then Michael Matheson were briefed.

The inquiry, before Sheriff James Williamson, continues.