Aldi Stores to pay £1m fine after powered pallet truck incident

Aldi Stores has been fined £1m after a driver needed two toes amputated following an incident with a powered pallet truck.

A driver sustained severe foot injuries, including fractures to all toes on his left foot, while using the forklift truck at the supermarket’s Nottingham Road, Somercotes, Derbyshire store in November 2013.

The driver had only been delivering in to stores for two weeks and had to have his foot reconstructed using wires.

He was off work for almost six months, but has since returned to work at Aldi.

On 14 July, Derby Crown Court was told Aldi relied on new drivers shadowing other drivers before they started working alone. It did not have a standardised training programme in place for all drivers to undertake before they were able to use the equipment.

The supermarket admitted it should have provided structured and formal training.

Aldi pleaded guilty to two breaches to the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, following an investigation by Amber Valley Borough Council.

It was ordered to pay £70,000 in costs in addition to its £1m fine.

Councillor David Taylor said: “This investigation and outcome will hopefully result in a renewed focus by Aldi to ensure that standards are maintained to ensure employees receive adequate protection from the risk of injury.”