A man has said he’s “lucky to be alive” after part of a building crashed to the busy street below – describing his escape as “a Christmas miracle”. Adam Croke was making his way home following a night out with friends in the early hours of Friday when the drama unfolded in Glasgow city centre.
The 23-year-old and his pals were waiting for an Uber from Queen Street back to Newton Mearns, East Renfrewshire, when the stonework fell. Adam said he thinks the block missed him by less than half a metre, and said it was a “Christmas miracle” that nobody was killed as a result of the fall.
Adam said: “I’m lucky to be alive. It was pretty big. These big bits of sandstone shattered and went absolutely flying. I think I would be dead if I was stood not even half a metre to the left. At the time, I didn’t really know what had happened. The street was still quite busy, but it’s also very lucky that this wasn’t a Saturday afternoon on a busy shopping day, especially at this time of year.
“I think someone would definitely have been killed.” Glasgow Live reports the falling sandstone from a baluster “sounded like a bomb” as it smashed into the pavement. But the trainee pharmacist did not escape uninjured, and is now nursing a sore foot, suffering “severe soft tissue damage” after the stone shattered next to him, hitting him in the leg and foot.
Glasgow City Council declared the building at 73-87 Queen Street unsafe after the stonework from a baluster fell to the ground. Parts of Argyle Street, Union Street, Queen Street, Ingram Street, Mitchell Street and Mitchell Lane were closed Friday morning. Adam attended Hairmyres Hospital later on Friday morning.
He was told he had suffered soft tissue damage but thankfully no broken bones. Adam, who was sent home from work at Boots on Saturday as he was in too much pain, said: “It’s all so bruised and purple.” And he is concerned that the incident could have been much worse. He said: “Why has it taken a stone block to fall off and nearly kill somebody before they check all this?
“These buildings are around 175 years old, and there should be people going up and having a look at these buildings as a matter of course.” On Friday, a council spokesperson said: “We were contacted by Police Scotland around 3am this morning following a report of stonework that had fallen from a building on Queen Street.”
“To ensure public safety, our building standards officers have deployed a crane to support the removal of any further loose stonework from the roof of the building.” The building affected houses a number of businesses, including Max’s Bar & Cantina, clothing shop Fat Buddha Store, and eatery Henry Healy.
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