Falling tipper kills Blue Circle driver
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• A Blue Circle tipper driver was killed last week when his truck tipped over in a South Wales quarry.
William Goodwin, known to his friends as Jock, was killed while he was unloading a full load of slag into a Blue Circle quarry at Aberthaw, near Barry. He was in the cab of a 38-tonne Leyland Daf three axle tractive unit with a tandem axle tipper trailer when it tipped over to the side.
Goodwin was 45 and had worked as a tipper and powder tanker driver for Blue Circle for 22 years. He was "experienced in driving both", says Brian Davies, general manager of the Aberthaw quarry.
The accident happened on 12 December at about midday. It is believed that Goodwin was killed instantly although no-one got to the scene for about 15 minutes.
Davies says that no-one knows what happened, but adds that the ground was hard and stable.
An internal inquiry will be completed this week. The Mines and Quarries Inspectorate, a division of the Health and Safety Executive, is also carrying out an investigation.
Goodwin leaves behind a wife and two children.
The Aberthaw site is used to store slag, which is mixed with limestone at the site. It has 16 drivers who all drive tippers and tankers.
Kerril Spencer, head of the Road Haulage Association's tipper group, says accidents are more common on landfill sites where the ground may be soft, but that there have always been incidents of tippers toppling over.