1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212 
Crane operators warned after fatal accident
Page 6
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
A HAULAGE BOSS is advising operators to upgrade the safety of truck-mounted cranes after one of his drivers was jailed for causing the death of a six-year-old girl.
Jim Entwistle. director of Entwistle Haulage in Blackpool. says the locking mechanism on a crane stabilising leg that swung out and struck the girl's head was not working properly. Driver Malcolm Lane knew of the defect but had failed to secure the leg with rope.
The girl, Freya Aldred, was knocked unconscious in the accident in September. 2004 and died two weeks later. Her five-year-old brother sustained multiple injuries, including a fractured skull.
Lane, from Crawley, East Sussex, was jailed for 20 months by Guildford Crown Court and disqualified from driving for two years after admitting causing death by dangerous driving. Mechanic Stuart MacMillan had been cleared at an earlier hearing of aiding and abetting causing death by dangerous driving.
Entwistle says the danger of relying on drivers to stow legs away manually is that they will forget due to pressure of work:"We won't fit a crane now without hydraulically operated stabiliser legs. I'd advise others to do the same. It adds £800-£1,200 to the cost, but if anyone says that's money not well spent,they should have been in our shoes for the past 18 months."
Since April 2005, Vosa has included safety checks on crane stabiliser legs in annual tests.