Dumper ran down slope
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A 40-ton dumper truck ran downhill and collided with another unit after it was left unattended and parked "on air" only, an Edinburgh tribunal was told.
The driver, Colin Douglas, of 28 Woodbank, Dalkeith, failed in an application for unfair dismissal against Murphy Group Ltd, operating at the Dora opencast site, Cowdenbeath. He was employed in November 1975 and dismissed on February 16, 1977.
Mr Douglas, the tribunal was told, left his unit for 25 minutes on a slope, unattended, and on air brake only. It ran down and collided with another major unit, damaging both machines substantially. A shop steward checked and found the park brake in the off position, it was alleged.
Mr Douglas admitted a specific warning against leaving the truck with the handbrake in the off position and held only by the air brake. But he asked, through his union, to be suspended rather than dismissed.