District council fined £25,000 after bin lorry death

A district council has been fined £25,000 and ordered to pay almost £13,000 in costs after a 76-year-old man was killed by a reversing bin lorry.

Derrick Baines of Mellish Road, Langold, Nottinghamshire, was returning home from the shops on his mobility scooter when he was hit on 10 July 2008.

The lorry was on a missed bin collection in Mellish Road, but only had a one-man crew.

Bassetlaw District Council pleaded guilty at Nottingham Crown Court to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) told the court that the incident could have been prevented had there been a reversing assistant at the back of the vehicle.

The driver only noticed something was wrong when he saw shopping on the road behind him. He stopped the lorry and found Mr Baines trapped underneath who suffered multiple injuries and died later in hospital.

HSE inspector David Butter said: "If the council had staffed the refuse collection lorry appropriately then Mr Baines would probably still be alive today. Very large vehicles such as this have a number of blind spots and it was impractical to expect a lone driver to reverse safely without the aid of a colleague walking behind to check the path was clear.

"These lorries are fitted with flashing lights and a reversing warning system but the council needed to take into consideration that system was not adequate and another worker should have been present and could have prevented this needless loss of life."