Haulage company fined after fork lift truck driver killed while loading lorry

A haulage company has been fined £85,000 after a fork lift truck driver was killed at work as he loaded a lorry.

Ian Dawson, 60, was putting pallets onto an HGV as it moved forward, causing the fork lift truck to overturn.

Mr Dawson, from Rochdale, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was trapped beneath the vehicle, and died as a result of his injuries in the incident on 19 November 2020, at Chorlton Express Transport Limited in Royton, Greater Manchester.

His partner, Jane Medhurst, described the last moment she saw him, before they both left for work on the day he died.

Ms Medhurst said: “We told each other, ‘love you’, kissed and said, ‘see you later'. What happened that day was so catastrophic.

"It has drastically changed my life. I still find it difficult to cope with the loss of Ian.

“He loved his food and months after his death I still found myself shopping for him.

"Thinking 'oh that’s one of Ian’s favourites I will buy that'. Even though I knew he was not here anymore.

“Although I now realise Ian will never come home again and I have now had to move out of the house we shared, it still haunts me that he is gone. It was so sudden and unexpected that I never got a chance to say goodbye to him.”

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found Chorlton Express Transport Limited, based on Meek Street, Royton, had failed to put in place sufficient safe systems of work regarding vehicle movements.

It had also failed to ensure all fork lift truck drivers were compelled to wear seatbelts.

Manchester Magistrates Court heard had Mr Dawson been wearing a seatbelt, it is highly likely that this would have saved his life.

His daughter Caitlin, who was just 19 when her dad died, said it had ‘turned her life upside down’.

Caitlin said: “I can still remember getting the phone call that my dad had passed like it was yesterday.

"At just 19 years old when it happened, and it being the first time losing someone, it felt like my life had turned upside down, especially in the brutal terms it happened.

“To this day, I still sit and cry and the fact that I will never get to say goodbye to my dad. I will never be able to speak to him and he will never be able to take me shopping again, one of the most fond memories I have of him.

"It has been one of the most traumatising experiences of my life and I am still suffering every day because of it.”

Chorlton Express Transport Limited pleaded guilty to breaching regulations under the Health and Safety at Work Act. It was fined £86,710 and ordered to pay £5,903 costs at a hearing on 17 April.

The prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Matthew Reynolds and paralegal Lucy Gallagher.

After the hearing HSE inspector Jane Carroll said: “The failures of this company has left a family without the man they loved.

"The importance of wearing seatbelts cannot be stressed enough.

"The failures meant the company exposed employees, and others, to the risk of being struck or caught by workplace vehicles.

"All work settings that use a forklift truck to load or unload goods, need to consider the risks arising from their use, and implement adequate measures to ensure the safety of those involved in these activities."