Sowerby: families lose
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by James Brewster • The families of those who died in the Sowerby Bridge lorry crash disaster have lost their bid to force the Crown Prosecution Service into bringing a cor porate manslaughter charge against haulier Fewston Transport.
Dismissing the relatives' case, Lord Justice Staughton told London's High Court: "Surely in the public interest, there should have been a prosecution." But he told the relatives the court could only interfere if the decision was felt to be "wholly irrational or perverse".
"1 cannot find that that test has been satisfied in this case," he said.
His fellow judge, Mr Justice Rougier, added: "One cannot but be deeply conscious of the grief of the relatives of those who were killed."
Brenda Waterworth, whose husband Derek died at the wheel of his tipper when it crashed into the shop and BT van in Sowerby Bridge, had asked the court to overturn the CPS's refusal to charge the directors of the company which owned the vehicle, Fewston Transport, with corporate manslaughter. She was supported by Halifax MP Alice Mahon and other victims' relatives including Glen Rooke, who lost his wife Angela, and Lorraine Stott, whose husband was driving the BT van.
The court heard earlier that all eight of the lorry's brakes were grossly defective: the brake drums were excessively worn and four of eight sets of brake shoes were worn and the brake actuator rods were maladjusted.
Halifax deputy coroner James Turnbull, who later presided over an inquest, told the court he had found that all six had been "unlawfully killed". • North Eastern Traffic Commissioner Keith Water-worth banned Fewston from the road last December after condemning its cavalier attitude to road safety. Eric Preston, the firm's transport manager, and managing director Anthony Eyers were banned from holding an Operators Licence for three years and one year respectively. The company was also fined 25,000 by Calderdale Magistrates in May after admitting using a vehicle with defective brakes.