gas leak, Clarkston, car park, Scotland, Glasgow

In one appalling moment, a busy road, a typical just-round-the-corner shopping street, in the Clarkston area of Glasgow, Scotland, became a street of horror. The street was packed with wives doing the shopping. Everywhere there was laughter and chatter as happy children played. Then, at 2.52 in the afternoon, there was a deafening blast. Like a pack of cards, eleven shops collapsed into rubble. Cars on a rooftop car park above them plunged into the debris. There were screams and cries for help amid the confusion as rescuers tried to save the victims. At least eleven people died in the terror. Another fifty-two were injured. The explosion is thought to have been caused by a gas leak. October 1971 P004452