A haulier in Warwickshire has been fined £90,000 after a metal heat exchanger fell from its lorry and killed a cyclist.
An HGV operated by JW Morley Transport was driving through Nuneaton in June 2021 carrying four metal heat exchangers weighing over 10,000kg when the load shifted as it rounded a bend.
This caused a securing strap to snap, resulting in one of the exchangers falling from the lorry, killing 70-year-old Christopher Baker, who was cycling alongside the vehicle.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation revealed that the heat exchangers were inadequately secured on the vehicle, which made the load prone to toppling and the ratchet straps used to secure the load were in poor condition.
The investigation also found that the driver had not received training in load security, which would have meant he could have created a securing scheme for unusual and high-risk loads, nor had he been provided with a securing scheme by JW Morley Transport.
Baker’s widow Rose made a victim personal statement in which she said she had lost her husband of 54 years, her best friend and soulmate:
“We did everything together both as a couple and as a family,” she said.
“We have always been a very close family, and it feels that the very heart of it has been ripped out.
“Chris and I had plans for our retirement after working so hard for so many years. Our children and grandchildren were our priority and now that precious time has been taken from them. No amount of words will ever express how we all feel.
“We are heartbroken, devastated and really don’t think we will ever be the same again.”
Nina Day, an HSE senior policy advisor, said: “The lorry should not have entered the public road network.
“At the point it did there was an immediate and likely risk of harm to other road users, pedestrians, and the driver himself.
“The fatal load shift was due to the grossly inadequate manner of loading and securing the load, and was both foreseeable and entirely preventable.
“If the heat exchangers had each been placed inside a metal or wooden transport frame and secured with a minimum of three webbing straps each, with friction matting between the transport frame and the load bed, the load would not have shifted under normal driving conditions.”
JW Morley Transport pleaded guilty to breaching the Health & Safety at Work Act and was fined £90,000 and ordered to pay £8,047.55 in costs at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court.
