Fury at low fines in Liverpool crane death case

Aaron Morby 13 years ago
Share

A crane driver and hire firm Bryn Thomas have been fined a total of £7,000 after an overloaded crane toppled and crushed a worker in Liverpool.

Supervisor Mark Thornton, 46, was killed when a six-tonne steel column hit him on a Liverpool building site four years ago.

Thornton was guiding a steel column with a rope when the jibbed Demag AC 150 telescopic mobile crane buckled and toppled over.

The steel beam struck Thornton on the head and shoulders killing him instantly.

The crane driver, crane hire firm and construction firm that employed Thornton were all prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive.

North Wales mobile specialist Bryn Thomas Crane Hire admitted health and safety breaches for failing to ensure that its equipment was in good working order.

Liverpool Crown Court fined the firm £4,500 – a fine ‘significantly reduced’ because the company is in administration.

Judge Nigel Gilmour, QC, said he was unable to impose an appropriate fine of £300,000 on Bryn Thomas Crane Hire because it had now gone into administration with massive debts.

The mobile crane hirer was placed into administration earlier this year, although its assets were bought by a company trading as Bryn Thomas Cranes.

Merseyside crane operator Frederick Scott was fined £2,500 after he admitted to several health and safety breaches including failing to check the weight of the column and that a lift plan had been completed.

The driver, who had only three months experience, also admitted failing to check the crane’s overload alarm was audible and override switches were working, neither of which was the case.

Thornton’s employer and the third defendant Sitewell Construction is to be sentenced at a later date while its financial situation is examined by the court’s forensic accountants.

Thornton’s daughter Cheryl told the Liverpool Daily Post: “No justice was brought whatsoever. It could have been prevented and that is what makes it all the worse – it did not have to happen.

“These companies get a minimal fine and it is all over. It is not over for us. We have to live with this forever.”

Latest news

Police ban mobile cranes from roads over Easter

Plant hire bosses livid as forces across the country extend abnormal load embargoes
15 hours ago

Director jailed for exposing workers to asbestos

Ten tonnes of asbestos insulating board stripped out by unqualified workers
19 hours ago

Site labour rates start rising again

Industry's biggest payroll firm says "it feels like things could be turning round"
23 hours ago

Council finds extra £33m for Buckinghamshire link road

South East Aylesbury Link Road costs soar by nearly 30% to £147m
23 hours ago

Quartet win £490m North West & Central railway works deal

Skanska, Kier, Octavius Infrastructure and Story Contracting bag major projects deal
24 hours ago

Unite Students plans first major mixed-use scheme

Developer's first mixed BTR and PBSA project to be built in Edinburgh
2 days ago

Galliford Try names new finance director

Rentokil's Kris Hampson joins contractor to replace Andrew Duxbury
1 day ago

Council boss hits out at bat threat to £274m road job

Natural England could scupper scheme due to be built by Ferrovial
1 day ago

Hydrogen-fuelled diggers to be allowed onto highways

Government to raise barrier to widespread use of hydrogen fuelled plant in construction
2 days ago

Plans in for £118m Government hub in Darlington

Work pencilled to start later this year on new home for 1,450 civil servants
2 days ago

New contractor highlights Henry Construction jobs on website

New firm lists jobs by failed contractor to show its experience
2 days ago

Contractors line up for £2.6bn Anglian Water AMP8 deal

Eight big names land places on pioneering @one Alliance
3 days ago

McAleer & Rushe bags first major later living project

Work to start this month on 167-flat Royal Tunbridge Wells project
2 days ago

Kier starts first all-electric prison houseblock job in Kent

Next-generation fully electric T60 prison houseblock to be built at HMP Elmley
2 days ago

Keepmoat sees better times ahead in housing market

Profits dip in 2023 despite construction of record number of new homes
2 days ago

Vistry signs partnership deals for 1,900 mixed tenure homes

West Sussex former airfield and Newmarket sites to break ground
3 days ago

Turnover at Wates tops £2bn for first time

Construction division exceeds £1bn turnover as average contract value hits record high of £48.3m
3 days ago

L&G looks to sell Cala Homes in exit from house building

Insurance giant reported to be preparing to offload 3,000 homes-a-year developer
4 days ago

Multiplex profit almost trebles as margin hits 5.5%

Revenue jumps 20% to £675m as big London scheme complete
3 days ago

TopHat puts plans to open huge Corby factory on hold

Advanced manufacturing facility was due to employ 1,000 people
3 days ago

Laing O’Rourke lands Calderdale hospital job

Enabling works to start by the end of this year at West Yorkshire site
3 days ago

Go-ahead for £475m Sunderland film and TV studios

Work to start this year on first phase Corwn Work studios
3 days ago

Willmott Dixon set for £20m Stockport Community Hub

Planning decision expected in June on Marple leisure and health clinic project
3 days ago

Police hunt for blundering dumper truck thief

Raider drove into a fence before getting stuck on a bank
3 days ago

Beattie Passive files administration notice

Passivhaus pioneer has been in business for more than ten years
4 days ago

McAlpine set for £50m space and tech centre

Northumbria Uni sign pre-con deal for new satellite research hub
4 days ago

VolkerFitzpatrick seals £34m Kent road viaduct

Work to start next year on Sturry Link Road near Canterbury
4 days ago

Eight win £600m Scottish civil engineering framework

Balfour, Farrans, Graham and Morgan Sindall win major works lot
4 days ago

Site engineer crushed to death by excavator

22-year-old victim died just months after graduating from university
6 days ago

NG Bailey fined £135,000 after hospital site death

Worker died after striking overhead beam while navigating a mobile elevating work platform
6 days ago

Contractor services