Firm fined after death crash

Two men died in the accident

A leading Scottish tyre company has been fined £10,000 after an accident which claimed the lives of a tyre fitter and a truck driver.

Alex McDonald and Alan Murray were changing a wheel in the pitch dark on the A90 near Forfar when another truck ploughed into them in August 2002.

Forfar Sheriff Court heard that they were crushed to death.

McConechys Tyre Service of Ayr admitted failing to arrange the proper measures for the safety of staff and the public.

Procurator fiscal Chris Macintosh told the court that Mr Murray got a puncture while driving north on the A90.

Mr McDonald, who worked for McConechys Tyre Service, was called out and arrived at the scene at about 0430 GMT.

Hazard lights

Shortly afterwards a truck crashed into the back of the broken-down lorry, killing the two men.

Forfar Sheriff Court heard there had been a string of health and safety breaches.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive found that the broken-down vehicle's hazard lights had been the only warning for oncoming traffic.

Inspectors also discovered that the McConechys vehicle was parked in front of the broken down lorry because one of the front wheels was punctured.

There was a policy in place, but no system to ensure it was followed Chris Macintosh Procurator fiscal

The company's manual suggested that it should have been parked at the rear.

The recovery vehicle was not equipped with a roof-mounted flashing beacon and there was a lack of high-visibility jackets.

Tayside Police had not been informed of the breakdown.

Mr Macintosh said that the company's regular checks of its vehicles had shown no cause for concern.

Its tyre fitters had not reported any deficiencies in their equipment.

"That is where the good news for McConechys ends and the bad news starts," he told the court.

Industry regulations

"After the accident, coupled with the factors revealed in the fatal accident inquiry, it was found that certain things did not happen like they should have happened.

"There was no system for monitoring, controlling or revising safety to see if their policies were being followed by staff."

He said that this was required by industry regulations to ensure safety.

These monitoring procedures were, bluntly, not in place Sheriff Kevin Veal

"There are checks and audits that could have been done to ensure that staff are carrying out their duties," said Mr Macintosh.

"There was a policy in place, but no system to ensure it was followed."

Defence solicitor Kate Bennett said the firm accepted a breach of the Health and Safety Act 1999 because procedures were not in place to protect the safety of its employees and members of the public.

She said: "McConechys had procedures in place that almost mirrored national guidelines, but the criticism is in the monitoring."

Sheriff Kevin Veal said: "This was a very tragic accident, which was the catalyst for the HSE's investigation into procedures and for monitoring compliance that on paper appears should have prevented a terrible accident like this ever occurring.

"These monitoring procedures were, bluntly, not in place."