Highland family’s heart-break over woman killed by lorry

The family of a woman who died after being struck by part of a lorry have told a fatal accident inquiry of their heartbreak and horror over her death.

Chloe Morrison, 26, was walking with her mother on a pavement near Drumnadrochit when she was hit by a steel beam of the vehicle’s extended stabiliser leg in October 2019.

Lorry driver John O’Donnell, 53, from Inverurie, was later sentenced to 100 hours of unpaid work and banned from driving for 12 months.

In a statement read to the inquiry in Inverness, Ms Morrison’s family said they could write a millions words but they would not be enough to encapsulate the impact of her death.

Ms Morrison’s parents Robert and Karen Morrison and her sister Jodi Morrison-Napier wrote the victim impact assessment.

It described her as an adored and much loved daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, cousin and friend to many.

She lived in Drumnadrochit and worked as an early years practitioner in a nursery, a job her family said she was dedicated to and had worked hard to get.

She had been in a relationship with her partner for three years at the time of the accident on the A82.

In the statement Ms Morrison’s sister told of the impact her death had on her and her parents.

She said: “No parent should ever have to suffer the pain of losing a child, and certainly should not witness it in such horrific and avoidable circumstance.

“As Chloe’s sister, it breaks my heart seeing the pain so evident in my parents.

“I know that nothing I can ever do will heal them.”

The family thanked family, friends and their local community for the support they had received.

The inquiry heard from three witnesses, including lorry driver O’Donnell.

The evidence focused on the vehicle’s worthiness, O’Donnell’s induction to work for his employer, and safety checks that are required to be carried out by drivers of vehicles with cranes fitted.

The inquiry adjourned to resume next month before Sheriff Ian Cruickshank delivers his determination at a later date.

O’Donnell, who denied causing Ms Morrison’s death, was sentenced at the High Court in Stirling.

His earlier trial at the High Court in Inverness heard he had driven his lorry from Oldmeldrum in Aberdeenshire to Skye on 24 October 2019.

He stayed overnight and said he had dropped stabilising legs on the lorry the following day because of gales – although he was not trained to do so – before setting off on his return journey.

O’Donnell insisted he did not extend or touch the controls of the stabilisers’ outrigger beams.

But CCTV showed the nearside outrigger’s yellow warning sign, indicating it was unlocked, when he filled up with diesel at a filling station on Skye.

A passenger in a car travelling in the opposite direction also saw the outrigger swing out seconds before reaching the collision scene.

The court heard Ms Morrison died from multiple fractures.