Home Bargains Lorry

£50k fine for Home Bargains but design fault accepted as cause of fatal crush

The company that operates 400 stores under the name of Home Bargains, has been fined £50,000 after pleading guilty to failing to provide a full risk assessment for lorry deliveries at its Dudley store, where one of its drivers was fatally crushed. 

However, the company’s guilty plea was made on the basis that its failings were not responsible for the death of Gary Pickering in September 2013. 

The company also agreed to pay prosecution costs of £150,000. 

Pickering, from Swinton, Manchester, was making a night time delivery on his own to the Home Bargains store in Churchill Precinct, Dudley, west Midlands. 

In the store’s delivery area, he was in the process of moving the tail lift of the lorry into position at the loading platform at the shop. 

However, the tail lift closed onto his neck and head, trapping him between the mechanism and the back of the lorry.

“The company’s guilty plea was made on the basis that its failings were not responsible for the death of Gary Pickering in September 2013”

His body was discovered approximately two hours after the accident by a security guard conducting patrols at the centre.
Dudley Council brought the prosecution against T J Morris, which was heard at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

Original story from Health & Safety At Work.