‘Not making rational decisions’: Diabetic Driver William Swale breaks silence on horror Royal Daylesford hotel crash

The driver involved in a tragic beer garden crash that killed five people has spoken publicly about the incident for the first time.

William Herbert Swale, 69, took the stand in the Victorian Coroner’s Court on Tuesday morning for the first day of a two-week inquest into the crash.

Mr Swale was suffering a severe hypoglycaemic attack behind the wheel on November 5, 2023, when his BMW X5 crashed into benches and customers outside the Royal Daylesford Hotel in Daylesford.

While many people were injured in the accident, 5 people from two families lost their lives.

Pratibha Sharma (44), her daughter Anvi (9), her husband Jatin Kumar (30), their friend Vivek Bhatia (38) and son Vihann (11) died in the accident.

The inquest opened with Coroner Dimitra Dubrow expressing her condolences to the families of those killed and injured and acknowledging that “the effects and wounds of that day still remain”.

Outlining the lead-up to the horrific crash, barrister Rishi Nathwani KC, who assisted the inquest, said Mr Swale suffered a hypoglycaemic attack shortly after arriving in Daylesford, which caused him to lose control and tragically careen into the beer garden.

Mr Swale had spent the previous two days sleeping in his car in Clunes for a clay shooting competition and left at around 4.30pm, the court was told.

He was caught on CCTV entering the Winespeake deli in Daylesford at around 5.20pm, but left a short time later after staff told him they didn’t have a table.

Mr Swale returned to his car and crashed it into the outside seating area shortly after 6pm.

Mr Swale, who was called to give evidence, accepted that he “should have checked” his continuous blood glucose meter at 5.17pm; At this time, records showed that he was already in a hypoglycemic state with a blood sugar level of 2.9 mmol/L.

He said he remembered visiting Winespeake to raise his blood sugar levels and because he was hungry, feeling “dark”, “a little fuzzy” and “unclear”.

Mr Swale told the court he took a dose of insulin at around 4pm, intending to eat at Clunes, but failed to do so.

Asked by Mr Nathwani whether he had considered getting a takeaway from Winespeake, Mr Swale said: “No, because I was in a very, very hypoglycaemic state at the time.”

“So I wasn’t making rational decisions,” he said.

Mr Swale said his last memory before waking up in the ambulance was leaving the Deli and he did not remember getting back to his car or where he went after leaving.

Asked whether he knew he was hypoglycaemic when he checked his blood sugar at 5.17pm, Mr Swale denied that was the case.

The court heard his continuous blood glucose monitor was connected to his phone and was set to alert if his blood sugar level fell below 3.9mmol/L.

Records show he had 10 alarms stored on his phone, but Mr Swale denies hearing or being aware of any alarms.

He told the court he had never received an alarm while his phone was connected to his car but now believed the car had “muted” the alarm.

“There were periods when I scanned myself and thought, ‘I’m 3, 3 years old and no alarms went off,'” Mr Swale said.

He said his phone alerted him to a hypoglycemic state on average twice a week, but his last serious attack occurred in 2003.

After the crash, Mr Swale was found by a responding police officer, drenched in sweat and unconscious.

He told the court he was first diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1994 but did not remember attending any training other than a four- or five-day course that year.

Mr Swale said he only became aware of the requirement for diabetic drivers to register with VicRoads after trying to get a lorry license in 2019.

He then told the court his GP thought his endocrinologist had managed it, and his endocrinologist thought his GP had confirmed it was safe to drive.

The last time was in July 2023, just a few months before the accident, with endocrinologist Dr. Approved by Matthew Cohen.

Mr Swale was interviewed by Mr Nathwani about diabetes management and safe driving practices, Dr. He was taken to a number of training materials, including several that Cohen had emailed, but he said he never remembered reading them.

“I can’t confirm if it exists. If it was attached to an email, I would probably open it,” he said.

He also told the court he did not recall receiving training on the continuous blood glucose monitoring system beyond being told; “This was a great new device… I can scan whenever I want”.

A month after the crash, Mr Swale was charged with serious driving offenses, but these were later dismissed from court after a magistrate concluded he had no case to answer.

Mr Swale had previously objected to being given evidence on the grounds that it might incriminate him.

Late last year, Ms Dubrow found that the public interest outweighed prejudice against Mr Swale, granting him a certificate preventing her evidence from being used against him in the future.

The investigation continues.