A DARTFORD business has been ordered to pay more than £320,000 after a father of three was crushed and killed by his own lorry.

Gary Walters, 51, died collecting a trailer load of concrete structural products from a firm in Derbyshire premises of Dartford-based Bison Manufacturing Ltd.

He was driving and failed to apply his brake in his cab and, because the company’s drivers had not enforced the brake to the trailer, the vehicle moved off as he was coupling the parts together.

Mr Walters, who lived in Crowmarsh, Oxfordshire, is believed to have gone round the front of the vehicle in an attempt to get into the cab and apply the brakes, but he was struck by the cab and run over. He died of multiple injuries.

He was working for Gloucester-based contract haulier Larkins Logistics Ltd when he died on October 11, 2010 An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found drivers working for Bison did not routinely apply the trailer brakes to ensure the units were safely parked.

Derby Crown Court heard on April 8 and 9 that there had been a number of other instances of lorries rolling away and Larkins’ drivers had not been properly trained to assess the use of trailer brakes in the yard.

Bison Manufacturing Ltd in Crossways, Dartford, admitted breaching health and safety laws and were fined a total of £300,000 plus £21,341 in costs.

Following a trial, Larkins Logistics Ltd, of Dobbs Hill Farm, Staunton, Gloucester, was found guilty of similar offences and were yesterday (April 24) fined a total of £450,000 plus £23,317 in costs.

After the hearing HSE inspector Judith McNulty-Green said: "This was not an isolated incident – sadly there are deaths and serious injuries to drivers every year in similar circumstances. It happened out of poor practice and was entirely preventable.

"Bison Manufacturing Ltd failed to implement a safe system of work for the storage of trailers with the brakes applied. “They and Larkins Logistics Ltd also failed to implement and monitor working procedures for coupling and uncoupling trailers in the yard, and they failed to do it despite previous incidents.

"Had they done so they would have realised trailer brakes were routinely not being applied, taken appropriate action and a man would not have lost his life so needlessly."

Mr Walters had three children with his wife Vanessa – James, who was 19 at the time of the incident, Joanna, 15, and Tanya, 13.

Mrs Walters said:"I hope that people learn from this tragedy and that today’s prosecution will go some way to changing the way people in the same industry work. I do not want this to happen to another family.

"Telling our children their dad had died was the worst experience of my life. I felt so helpless that they were hurting and that there was nothing I could do to make it better. As a parent you want to protect your children at whatever cost.

"James is 21 now and starting his own family. It’s sad that Gary never got to see his first grandchild.

"When the girls get married it won’t be a traditional wedding as their dad won’t be there to give them away. Gary will be missing from all the family portraits. There will never be a full picture again."