Cameron House guests tried to save trapped family

Hotel guests had to be physically stopped from going back into a burning building to save a young family during the Cameron House fire, an inquiry has heard.

The hotel's night manager, told a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) the group of men tried to go back for a couple and their baby who were trapped in their room.

The blaze at the luxury Loch Lomond resort killed two on 18 December 2017.

The inquiry is taking place at Paisley Sheriff Court.

It will determine whether any lessons can be learned to minimise the risk of future deaths.

The fire started after night porter Christopher O'Malley placed a plastic bag of ash in a cupboard containing kindling and newspapers.

Darren Robinson, who was night manager and fire warden at the time, told the court he had activated the hotel's full alarm after smoke was detected on a fire control panel at reception.

Moments later, Mr O'Malley opened the concierge cupboard - just off of the reception area - and smoke and flames erupted.

Mr Robinson said he left the building without the list of guests in the hotel, which he only realised when he was about to start the roll call.

The court was played the 999 call he made reporting the blaze that he made from his mobile outside the building.

The 36-year-old said: "At that time I was trying to get people out of the hotel. There was people just standing at their windows looking down."

He added that it was a common occurrence in hotels for people to hear the fire siren and to assume it was a false alarm.

It became apparent a young couple and their baby were stuck in room 10 - Mr Robinson said he informed firefighters as soon as they arrived and they rescued the family by ladder.

The fire claimed the lives of Simon Midgley, 32, and Richard Dyson, 38, who were on a winter break at the hotel in West Dunbartonshire.

The inquiry started with a minute's silence in memory of the two victims.

During Mr Robinson's submission, the court heard a guest roll call list was eventually obtained.

He and resort director Andy Roger became aware they did not have a location for the people in suite eight, where Mr Dyson and Mr Midgley were staying.

However, firefighters indicated there was no-one in the couple's room, Mr Robinson said.

The inquiry heard that post-mortem examinations on both men found they died from inhalation of smoke fire gases, caused by the hotel fire, suggesting they were alive during the blaze.

Paisley Sheriff Court was also read a statement by Mr Midgley's mother Jane, which described them as soulmates who were made for each other.

She added that her son was a family orientated, gregarious and popular young man who lit up every room.

By Katie Hunter, reporting from the inquiry

Arriving at Paisley Sheriff Court this morning, Jane Midgley described the last four years and eight months as soul destroying.

Ever since the criminal case concluded at the beginning of last year she has been calling for an FAI.

She still has questions about what happened on the morning of 18 December 2017 at Cameron House.

Why didn't Simon and his partner Richard Dyson make it out of the hotel? What lessons can be learned so a similar tragedy never happens again?

Mrs Midgley, who is from Pudsey, Leeds, plans to attend every day of the inquiry and hopes her many questions will be answered in courtroom number eight.

Cameron House was ordered to pay £500,000 after admitting to breaches of fire safety rules.

O'Malley admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act and was given a community payback order.

The Crown Office initially said an FAI was not needed because the circumstances of the fatalities had been established - but a review overturned the decision after Mrs Midgley called for wider lessons to be learned.

A coroner in England ruled that the couple were unlawfully killed and raised concerns that he had not been allowed access to documents and CCTV footage by Scottish authorities.

The FAI is expected to last about three weeks.