Digger driver jailed for manslaughter

Digger driver Michael Ernest Roys of Doncaster has been sentenced to a year in prison after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Roys was operating an excavator at the Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire on 28 September 2007 when the bucket became detached from the semi-automatic quick hitch and struck Alwyne Parkinson.

Parkinson was taken to hospital but died from his injuries on 1 October.

Investigations showed that the safety pin was missing from the semi-automatic hitch at the time of the incident and in April Roys pleaded guilty to the manslaughter charge. 

There were four similar fatalities last year involving semi-automatic quick hitches and the Health and Safety Executive issued a safety alert about their use last December.

Alan Rackstraw, quality systems manager at Miller UK, who attended the accident, said: “It’s a shame somebody has had to go to prison to make people realise the bad practice that’s going on in the industry.”