Widow of man killed by coal truck seeks inquiry

Published on Tuesday 26 August 2008 21:56

THE widow of a coal worker who was crushed to death by a 100-tonne dumper truck when it ran over the car he was travelling in called for a public inquiry into the accident after his employers were fined £400,000 yesterday.

Father-of-six Brian French, 48, was killed alongside his colleague Colin Ferguson, 37, when the huge 17ft truck crashed into them at the Pennyvennie open-cast mine in Dalmellington, East Ayrshire, in February 2007.

The truck driver could not see their car because it was in a blind spot.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said yesterday the "entirely preventable" deaths arose from management failures.

At Ayr Sheriff Court, Scottish Coal Company Ltd, which runs the mine, was fined 400,000 after pleading guilty to breaching health and safety rules.

Last night Mr French's widow Lorna, 49, of Kelloholm, Dumfriesshire, said: "I want everything that happened to be laid bare in a public inquiry. I think we haven't been told the whole story.

"The fine is meaningless ... It could have been millions but wouldn't have brought Brian back."

Sheriff John Montgomery said the fine was not intended to "represent the value of the lives so tragically lost", adding that any compensation claim would be dealt with by another court.

HSE Inspector Norrie Buchanan said: "These two deaths were entirely preventable and arose from the clear failure of Scottish Coal to provide suitable means of communication between different vehicles on site to reduce the risk of collisions, as well as a failure to manage vehicles on their site."