Untrained banksman crushed by reversing lorry

Death of a banksman

Tooles Transport has been fined £150,000 after a ‘caring’ and ‘selfless’ father was crushed to death by a reversing lorry following a series of health and safety blunders. Mr Kevin Scott died while acting as an untrained banksman at Tooles Transport yard in Rushock Trading Estate, Droitwich.  He was crushed by the goods vehicle at the yard at around 6 pm. The lorry was performing a blindside reversing manoeuvre with Mr Scott acting as a banksman. Emergency services were called, but he could not be saved.

It is understood that the sentencing brought some measure of closure to his family, including sons, Greg and Christopher Scott, who attended the hearing and described the loss of their father as ‘devastating’.

Greg Scott said after the sentence:

We’re just happy it’s all done. It’s closure. He was stoic. He was strong. He was caring. He gave 100 per cent. He cared for people more than himself at times. He was very selfless. He was my dad at the end of the day. He was someone me and Chris could talk to, a shoulder to cry on.

Tooles Transport Limited was convicted of the single count after a four week trial at Worcester Crown Court.

Judge Robert Juckes QC said Mr Scott was an ‘experienced driver’ who had worked for Tooles Transport for several years. Shaun Jennings, another experienced driver, was driving the lorry which killed Mr Scott and was kept on in his job afterwards.

Judge Juckes said:

The evidence plainly shows that he (Mr Scott) was acting as an untrained banksman at the time he died and had got himself into a dangerous position, very probably, in my finding, because he was trying to protect his own vehicle from damage to the driver’s side mirror.

The judge said Mr Jennings performed this blindside reverse because of the position of other vehicles in the yard and it was not a manoeuvre he would have chosen to perform.

A number of health and safety issues had been identified at the time of Mr Scott’s death. These included:

• the use of untrained banksmen
• the lack of segregation of pedestrians and vehicles
• the movement of vehicles around the yard’s central reservation
• the labelling of pallets which put drivers in close proximity to manoeuvring lorries
• the level of lighting

The judge said there was two metres between the lorries and minor collisions happened between them ‘not infrequently’.

Judge Juckes said the company’s director John Toole, who was present at the hearing, placed a lot of trust in his drivers and was shown to be a ‘particularly good leader of men’ who was ‘devoted’ to his employees.

Aware of untrained banksmen

The judge said ‘sloppy practice’ had developed in the yard and he said it was ‘a sad fact of this case that Mr Toole was aware of the risk of untrained banksmen’.

It would be wrong to deal with the company on the basis they completely ignored such concerns” said the judge. However, he also commented that health and safety breaches in these areas must have been around for four to five years, placing the offence in the ‘medium culpability’ sentencing bracket. The court heard that around 60 drivers used the yard and they were exposed to risk as a result of working practices. However, no other report had been against the company in 40 years.

There were no previous convictions against Tooles Transport Limited which had sought to remedy the issues raised by the HSE, and the judge found no aggravating features.

Judge Juckes imposed a fine of £150,000 which the company will pay at a rate of £30,000 per year over a period of five years. Costs were placed at £253,728 including £137,000 in counsel costs (accrued over three years), a figure disputed by the defence but ruled to be ‘not excessive’ by the judge. The judge, in imposing the fine, also acknowledged the company’s narrow profit margin.