Brake failure blamed
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• More than 3,000 trucks were recalled after a fatal accident was found to have been caused by a faulty Clayton Dewandre brake valve, a Manchester inquest has been told.
The inquest, into the death of Fred Fogg, who died after being hit by a 17-tonne vehicle, heard that if the rear brakes had been working the vehicle would have stopped before it reached him.
Maurice Carveth, Clayton Dewandre's engineering services manager, said that a rubber seal had worked loose in the brake valve. The type of valve concerned had been in production since 1986 and of the 3,000 supplied to truck manufacturer Seddon Atkinson, this was the first to develop such a problem.
The design had now been modified so that the seal was held in place mechanically, as well as being bonded, Carveth told the inquest.
Reaching a verdict of accidental death, Coroner Leonard Gorodkin said that there was no suggestion that the driver of the vehicle had driven recklessly. He believed, the brake valve failure meant that the rear brakes of the vehicle would not work.