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Killed by unlit trailer
Page 9
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WINSFORD-RASED Rathbones, now known as DJM Transport, has been fined 05,000 following a fatal accident in which a motorist was killed when he collided with an unlit trailer outside the company's base.
The company pleaded guilty to an offence under Health & Safety legislation when it appeared at Chester Crown Court.
The prosecution alleged: "DJM Transport failed to conduct its undertaking in such a way so as to ensure, as far as was reasonably practicable, that persons not in its employment were not exposed to risks arising from the parking of uncoupled trailers." The court was told that at 5.30pm on 20 December 2002 a car driven by 63-year-old motorist John Moore collided with the unlit. uncoupled trailer. He later died of his injuries.
The prosecution added Moore would not have seen the trailer in the darkness and could not be criticised for the accident.
The company's standards of care were said to have fallen well below what should have been expected. It had been "an accident waiting to happen".
Fining the company, but giving it 12 months to pay, Judge Mervyn Hughes QC said he had taken account of its early guilty plea.