Stuart Simpson

Died

:

28 March 1994

Age

:

26

Rank

:

Police Constable

Force

:

Strathclyde Police

Cause

:

Road Traffic Collision (RTC)

Duty Status

:

On Duty

Roll of Honour Citation

Killed when his police car was struck head on by a car going the wrong way on the motorway.

Having joined the police in 1988 he was initially posted to R Division before moving to the Support Unit. As an Authorised Firearms Officer he was on night shift crewing an Armed Response Vehicle with his colleague travelling on the M8 motorway when around 2am they were returning to their base in Springburn.

Around this time police received multiple reports of a car travelling against the flow of traffic on the motorway. It was believed the driver drove the wrong way on to the Bothwell Street off-ramp, despite two sets of two signposts indicating that the road was for east-bound traffic only and should not be entered at that point.

An off duty police officer, who spotted the car on motorway while travelling home, called police headquarters in Pitt Street from a motorway emergency telephone to report the vehicle travelling on the wrong carriageway. A radio alert was put out to police officers on duty but, as this was being done, police at the traffic department in Meiklewood Road, near Helen Street, received news of a serious collision on the motorway nearby.

The car drove directly head on into PC Simpson’s patrol car. It is thought they had little chance of avoiding the oncoming car. He sustained fatal injuries, his colleague was seriously injured but later recovered.

He was married with a 2 year old daugther.