A London-based company has been fined £1 million after a much-loved dad was crushed to death by a reversing lorry. Lee, 53, from Stockport, was acting as a banksman and was directing his colleague, who was reversing the HGV into a loading bay in Manchester city centre.
While attempting to guide the vehicle into the unloading area, Mr Warburton became trapped between the vehicle and a wall. He sustained fatal crush injuries. Emergency services raced to the scene, at City Towers on New York Street, on February 19, 2019. He suffered fatal crush injuries and could not be saved.
His former partner says their lives have been ‘changed forever’. It comes as Lee Warburton’s employer was handed a seven-figure fine for breaching health and safety law.
Lee Warburton’s partner, Hayley Tomlinson, described the day he died as the worst of her life. “To be taken in such a cruel manner made it even harder,” she said. “Knowing the pain and fear Lee must have gone through was unbearable. But nothing compares to the moment I had to tell our children their daddy was never coming home.”
She spoke of the long-term impact on their daughters, who were just nine and ten at the time. Both have suffered serious mental health challenges, including depression, bullying and social isolation. “It broke my children’s spirits; they lost the sparkle in their eyes,” she said. “Lee was their hero.”
“My children will miss out on all the milestones Lee should have been here for – walking them down the aisle, meeting their first child. They miss the cuddles, the love he showed them, the days out. This has changed our lives forever.”
Lee was working for Bestway Northern Ltd, a wholesaler serving independent supermarkets across the country and was making a delivery to a store with a colleague who was driving.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the firm had ‘failed to implement a safe system of work for vehicle movements’. “The company also failed to adequately assess the risks involved in the task or provide sufficient training for employees acting as banksmen,” the HSE said.
The business was prosecuted and pleaded guilty to breaching a regulation under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
At a hearing at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on July 18 this year, Bestway, based on Abbey Road in the Park Royal area of London, was fined £1m. They were also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £11,950. Lee, a big music and Manchester City fan, was dad to son Tom and daughters Amy and Katie, aged nine and 10 at the time.
HSE inspector Jane Carroll said: “The company had failed to implement a safe system of work for its delivery and unloading activities, thereby exposing employees and others to the risk of being struck or caught by workplace vehicles.
“Nearly a quarter of all deaths involving workplace transport occur during reversing, most of which can be avoided by taking simple precautions.
“All work settings involving vehicles need to consider the risks arising from their use and implement adequate measures to ensure the safety of those involved in these activities.”
An inquest into Lee’s death in May 2022 heard the driver of the Mercedes HGV was Sim Biri-Biri Plis and that Lee, also a qualified driver, was the passenger. Mr Birii-Biri Plis said they got on ‘very well’. “He was like my family in the workplace, you know,” he said.
Mr Biri-Biri Plis told the inquest jury Lee got out of the lorry with some papers in his hand used them to motion the driver to reverse once he got to the rear of the vehicle.
The witness said he could see Mr Warburton when he was on the road before he entered the depot through the wing mirrors and also with the help of the camera mounted on the rear of the truck.
He said he moved the truck according to the hand signals he saw, he said. He said he lost sight of Mr Warburton and thought he had gone to speak to a customer. “The last signal I received from Mr Lee was to keep going,” he said. “This is what I did at the time.”
“I only wanted to park the vehicle because it was a one way road and I wanted to have some space in front of me so I could get off the vehicle and go and see where he was.”
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