Council and bus company fined after fatal collision involving a bus passenger

A local council, and a bus company were fined after a passenger was killed when run over by a lorry at the bus station.

St Albans Crown Court heard how on 13 February 2015, Nicola Berridge stepped off the bus and was run over by a grab lorry as she walked across a pedestrian crossing at the bus station. She suffered fatal injuries. The grab lorry was delivering sand to a contractor as the bus station had been demolished and was being reconstructed at the time.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the visibility at this crossing was obstructed by buses which had been permitted to park on double-yellow lines between the crossings for several years. Bedford Borough Council and Cambus Limited, a bus station operator failed to coordinate and cooperate with one another to manage pedestrian and vehicle interaction within the bus station. They had joint responsibility to assess the risk to members of the public from vehicle movements within the bus station and to put in place reasonably measures to reduce that risk so far as was reasonably practicable.

Bedford Borough Council of Cauldwell Street, Bedford pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of Health and Safety at Work Act, was fined £300.000 and ordered to pay costs of £ 16,803.59.

Cambus Limited of Cowley Road, Cambridge pleaded not guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of Health and Safety at Work Act, was found guilty and fined £350,000 and ordered to pay costs which are still to be agreed

Speaking after the hearing HSE inspector Emma Page said: “There were inadequate control measures in place to segregate vehicles and pedestrians at the site and lack of proper planning in terms of pedestrian access and egress to the bus station.

“Hazards associated with vehicles and pedestrians in the same location, particularly the case in a facility such as a bus station in the centre of a busy town, are well known and easily controlled using reasonably practicable precautions.”

Notes to Editors:

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We prevent work-related death, injury and ill health through regulatory actions that range from influencing behaviours across whole industry sectors through to targeted interventions on individual businesses. These activities are supported by globally recognised scientific expertise. www.hse.gov.uk
2. More about the legislation referred to in this case can be found at: www.legislation.gov.uk/
3. HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk

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