Two haulage companies have been sentenced for safety failings after an HGV driver was left paralysed from the chest down following an incident at a transport yard in Sandy, Bedfordshire.

The 51-year-old man, from St Ives, Cambridgeshire, was crushed as he was closing the rear doors of his HGV when another lorry reversed into the area he was working in at the yard on Tyne Road, which was being rented by his employers H & M Distribution.

The worker, who does not wish to be named, suffered life-changing injuries and will be unable to work again.

As well as his paralysis, he suffered a brain injury which has affected his sight and has lost most of the use of his arms.

The incident was investigated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which successfully prosecuted H & M Distribution and H E Payne Transport – the owners of the yard.

The court heard that before setting out on a delivery, the driver pulled his loaded HGV forward of the loading bay so he could close the rear doors.

As he was doing so, a curtain-sided lorry reversed alongside the bay into the area he was working in, crushing him between the two vehicles.

HSE’s investigation revealed that despite both companies being road hauliers, there was no documented procedure for vehicle movements in the transport yard.

An Improvement Notice was served on both companies requiring them to organise movements in the yard so pedestrians and vehicles could circulate in a safe manner, which was complied with.

H & M Distribution of Sankey Valley Industrial Estate, Newton-le-Willows, was fined a total of £150,000 and ordered to pay costs of £13,996 after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

H E Payne Transport of The Lane, Wyboston, Bedfordshire, was fined a total of £100,000 and ordered to pay costs of £13,996 after pleading guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

After the case, HSE Inspector Emma Rowlands said: “This was a horrific and entirely preventable injury caused by the shared failure of both companies to recognise the hazards arising from loading operations at the transport yard and their duty to protect the people working there.

“Our investigation found that there was no documented procedure which allowed workplace transport and pedestrians to circulate the site in safety, and a dangerous lack of segregation between vehicles and workers on foot. Tragically, as a result an employee is now paralysed for life.”

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