A FORKLIFT driver in Wrexham died after suffering 'severe crush injuries' to his chest, the jury in an inquest has concluded.

Stephen Pritchard was coming to the end of his night shift at Marlin Industries on Llay Industrial Estate, at around 6.52am on February 26, 2020, when the incident occurred.

Throughout this week, reasons for the "deliberate" deactivation of a safety mechanism on the vehicle have been examined at the County Hall in Ruthin.

Day four of the inquest into Mr Pritchard, 48, took place today (February 22).

Mr Pritchard, of Pentre Street, Llay, had gone to the assistance of a lorry driver who was trying to secure the roof of a HGV. 

CCTV footage previously played to the coroner's court showed Mr Pritchard pulling up alongside the lorry in his JCB telehandler forklift truck.

It then shows the vehicle stop briefly, before it jerks forwards and makes contact with the HGV.

Work colleagues began CPR and Mr Pritchard, a father-of-three, was taken to Wrexham Maelor Hospital - whereby he sadly died shortly after. 

A post-mortem examination revealed that Mr Pritchard had sustained severe crush injuries to the chest area. 

The inquest at County Hall has explored the possibility of how the driver gear stick lever, which moves forklifts, could be accidentally knocked into gear.

Another aspect being explored by the inquest is why a seat safety sensor, which is designed to not allow the forklift to move when no one is seating in the driver's seat, had been deactivated.

This was found to be the case after the Health and Safety Executive seized the forklift for an inspection. 

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Both Mr Pritchard's colleague Lee Wood-Jones, and Mark Griffiths, who was team leader on the yard at Marlin at the time of the incident, told the inquest they weren't aware that such a device was present in the vehicle. 

On day four, the coroner's expert witness Mr Chris Botham was called to the stand to give evidence, answer questions and provide conclusions from his report into the incident.

Three videos, created by Mr Botham, were also played in court to demonstrate how the forklift sensors would work if the machine was operating as it should.

Mr Botham's report concluded that Mr Pritchard 'should not have been using' the Telehandler vehicle he was using for the particular job he was doing when the incident occurred.

The court was also told that, at that time, the vehicle did not have a Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER) certificate, meaning that it should not have been in use in the first place.

That is something, Mr Botham said, should have been the responsibility of both Marlin and South Wales Fork Trucks (SWFT), which Marlin had hired the forklift from.

Mr Botham stated that the 'accident is a very unusual incident', but insisted that it was a 'foreseeable misuse' of equipment.

He added that, in all his years of expertise, he had 'not heard of an accident such as this before'.

The court heard that there was no evidence of who or what may have altered the bypass of the lever which ultimately led to the incident occurring.

It was also confirmed that Mr Pritchard had been given the appropriate training by Marlin to operate the machine.

Daily checks are now said to be carried out on seat sensors at Marlins and audits have also been carried out to ensure that the correct manuals are in place for each machine on site.

The 11 members of the jury agreed the facts that Mr Pritchard had, at around 6.52am on February 26, 2020, been assisting a colleague with a strap on a HGV vehicle, using his Telehandler to try and reach the strap.

They also agreed that the gear lever caused the forklift to move forward and sideways. They agreed that the engine had been running and the seat sensor was by-passed.

Mr Pritchard then became trapped, causing 'severe crush injuries' to his chest.

A conclusion of death by misadventure was recorded, however, the spokesperson for the jury added that this 'would have been prevented if the seat sensor was not by-passed'.