A ROMSEY firm was fined £65,000 for a health and safety breech after an accident in which a lorry driver was crushed to death.

Adam Millichip, 27, was delivering sheet metal to the Wessex Lift Company in Budds Lane when he was crushed after walking into the gap between his vehicle and a fork-lift truck that was unloading it, Winchester Crown Court heard.

The prosecution said Wessex Lifts had not done a risk assessment of its roadside fork-lift truck unloading procedure and did not have a written unloading procedure for roadside operations.

The firm admitted guilt on the basis that these failures played a part in the accident, but were not a significant cause of Mr Millichip’s death.

The company was also ordered by judge, Recorder Christopher Parker, QC, to pay £60,000 costs.

Quentin Hunt, prosecuting, said Mr Millichip, from Tenbury Wells, who worked for Worcester-based David Curnock Ltd, decided to unload on the roadside rather than reverse his articulated lorry into the loading bay, which had become an increasingly frequent practice.

The court heard how, on November 16, 2007, fork-lift truck driver Michael Hett was unloading a pallet and as he reversed, took his foot off the accelerator and the forklift rolled forwards on the uneven road surface.

In panic, Mr Hett attempted to brake, but pressed the accelerator instead and the fork-lift went forwards into Mr Millichip.

Mr Hunt said Mr Hett and Mr Millichip’s actions were contributory factors.

Wessex Lift Company Ltd pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to discharge its duty under Section Three of the Health and Safety Act 1974 by failing to ensure that people not in their employment were not exposed to risks to their health and safety.

Mark Balysz, mitigating, said the company had robust safety measures and that even if the failures had been remedied, the accident could still have happened.

He said it had deeply affected the factory’s 70 staff, and all fork-lift drivers were trained.

Mr Balysz added that the roadside was not that different from the loading bay, where a risk assessment had been carried out.

Mr Millichip’s family said that their lives had been on hold since the accident and that they wanted to make sure this sort of thing never happened again. His mother, Sue, said: “We feel we got justice for Adam. Nothing’s going to bring him back and it won’t ease our pain.”

She added that the accident had “shattered so many lives”, including that of Adam’s nine-year-old son, Luke.