After a metal roll cage that he had been unloading from his vehicle crushed him, one Oxfordshire lorry driver is now believed to be planning to make a personal injury claim against his employer.
Abingdon-based 3663 Food Services’ lorry driver, Neil Cooper, had been delivering merchandise to a Slough, Berkshire Marriott Hotel at the time of the incident, according to the soon to be filed accident claim. The twenty eight year old lorry driver had been attempting to unload several roll cages from the back of the vehicle when one of them fell upon him.
Mr Cooper’s injuries were catastrophic. His injury claims include suffering a neck injury that paralysed the young man. Now confined to a wheelchair, Mr Cooper is now paraplegic and can no longer work.
During a hearing at Reading Crown Court, it was revealed that Mr Cooper had not been formally trained by his employer in how to properly unload his lorry. Particularly he had not been instructed on the proper operating procedure for a tail lift-equipped lorry and had been left to his own devices in unloading deliveries to the food service company’s customers.
After admitting its responsibility for the incident, 3663 Food Services was given a fine of £48,000. The courts also assigned costs of £14,000 to the company as well. Mr Cooper is currently believed to be pursuing legal advice in order to build his personal injury claim against his former employer.
BFS Group Ltd does business as 3663 Food Services. The company employs more than 5,000 staff across the UK at more than thirty individual sites. When asked for comment on the incident a company spokesperson stated that there was an extreme concern for Mr Cooper’s plight and that hard lessons had been learned by the firm in regards to proper health and safety training practices.