Death of workman may stay a mystery

From the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, first published Saturday 30th Aug 2003.

IT may never be known how a Blackburn man came to be crushed to death at a Toyota car plant, police revealed today.

Detective Inspector Deborah Edmunds said officers had ruled out any criminal offences, as the death of Bernard Anthony Place, of Whinney Lane, Lammack, appeared to have been a tragic accident.

Mr Place was discovered by colleagues with injuries to his chest and head at the plant in Burnaston, Derbyshire, and paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. He had been working for Hertfordshire-based Sisk Builders and Contractors to flatten land for a new car park on Wednesday.

Mr Place's body was found near ground-levelling equipment and a digger that was being driven by a colleague.

DI Edmunds added : "The driver doesn't know how he came to be lying where he was found. The post mortem examination did not reveal anything further. I don't think we will ever know what actually happened to him. We have no witnesses.

"Our involvement is over. Inquiries revealed that no criminal offence had been committed. It appears to have been a tragic accident."

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive, which is a compulsory action when there is an injury in a workplace, will now take place.

Sisk started work to level ground for a new car park in the despatch area of the 580-acre Toyota manufacturing site in August. The project was scheduled to take until December.

Pierce O'Shea, managing director of Sisk, which also has a base in Manchester, said Mr Place was self-employed at a company called Combine Associates in Blackburn.

He added that staff at Sisk were upset and in a state of shock.

An inquest was opened and adjourned in Derbyshire yesterday.

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