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<\/p>\nA council has been fined \u00a32million after a highway worker was run over and killed while filling in potholes on a busy road.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Father of two Stephen Bell, 57, was struck by a farm digger while making the repairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Newport council broke health and safety rules by conducting the work when the road was filled with traffic, a court heard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Prosecutor Sam Jones said properly closing the road was the ‘only way’ the workers could have safely completed the pothole repair project.<\/p>\n
He added: ‘Every vehicle, no matter its type, that passed through, whether at 10mph or at the speed limit of 60mph, created a risk and a risk of the most severe kind.<\/p>\n
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Father of two Stephen Bell, 57, was struck by a farm digger while making the repairs<\/p>\n
‘It’s that failure to secure an appropriate perimeter of the roadworks that is at the heart of the failure of this tragic case.’<\/p>\n
He was laying tarmac from the back of a tipper lorry on Langstone Court Road in Newport, Gwent, when he was struck by the digger.<\/p>\n
Mr Bell’s wife Jenny described how she had been ‘inconsolable’ after two police officers delivered the news of her husband’s death.<\/p>\n
She said: ‘We were approaching our time, with the girls growing up and with lives of their own, and that has been taken from me.’<\/p>\n
The husband and grandfather was ‘the heart of the family’ and grieving family members had since ‘lost the enjoyment of life’, the court heard.<\/p>\n
David Sapiecha, defending, described Mr Bell as ‘a popular and enthusiastic employee’.<\/p>\n
He said the council would have supported a road closure given the speed limit and narrowness of the road.<\/p>\n
He said ‘root and branch’ changes had been made to Newport council’s risk assessment routines and no reportable incidents since.<\/p>\n
‘The council have not turned a blind eye to this. They have not ignored it,’ he said.<\/p>\n
He described the events that led to Mr Bell’s death as ‘a significant error that allowed other matters to follow’.<\/p>\n
Mr Sapiecha asked the court to consider the ‘extremely sensitive’ state of the council’s finances, suggesting it would be service users who suffered from any fine.<\/p>\n
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive, Britain’s regulator for workplace safety, found the council failed to provide suitable a safety zone and perimeter between the road works area and running lane.<\/p>\n
The council admitted breaching health and safety rules in the hearing at Cardiff Crown Court.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Newport council broke health and safety rules by conducting the work when the road was filled with traffic, a court heard<\/p>\n
Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke watched footage from the morning and said the risks were ‘obvious’ even to the untrained eye and would have been ‘readily apparent’ if the council had properly prepared.<\/p>\n
‘It was the defendant’s failures that led tragically to the death of Mr Stephen Bell,’ she said.<\/p>\n
She acknowledged the digger that struck Mr Bell had its bucket in a lowered position which limited visibility but said it was ‘exactly the kind of risk’ the council had a duty to prevent.<\/p>\n
Considering the steps the council had taken to ‘remedy’ the problems and ‘very small’ financial reserves, Judge Lloyd-Clarke sentenced a financial penalty of \u00a32 million to be paid within two years.<\/p>\n
Newport City Council chief executive Beverly Owen has said the council is ‘extremely sorry’ for Mr Bell’s death in 2019.<\/p>\n
‘He was a respected and valued colleague. We again offer our sincere condolences to his family for their loss,’ Ms Owen said.<\/p>\n
‘The council takes its health and safety responsibilities very seriously at all times. A guilty plea was entered at the earliest opportunity.<\/p>\n
‘Policies, procedures and training were in place at the time of the incident however, thorough and in-depth reviews have also been carried out since the incident.<\/p>\n
* After the case wife Jenny spoken about the ‘dark days’ her family have endured in the four years since the traged in July 2019.<\/p>\n
She said: ‘I do not have the words to express the pain my family and I felt when we heard the news and losing him so suddenly has left us all heartbroken,’ she said.<\/p>\n
‘Stephen was a kind, caring and hardworking man who loved his family very much. He had an amazing sense of humour, a smile that lit up a room and laughter that was contagious.<\/p>\n
‘In the years since he’s been gone, we’ve missed him so much. I’ve been unable to share my grandchildren’s birthdays with him. Christmas days. Family holidays with a very special person missing.<\/p>\n
‘Recently, our youngest daughter got married and didn’t have her father to walk her down the aisle.’<\/p>\n
Mrs Bell added: ‘Since losing Stephen, my daughters have been a pillar of strength and I wouldn’t have made it through these dark days without them.<\/p>\n
‘I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our family and friends for their continued support.<\/p>\n
‘Nothing will bring my husband back and no matter what justice takes place, it will never be enough to compensate my family and I for what we have all lost.<\/p>\n
‘I just want to make sure nothing like this ever happens again so that no other families experience what we have.’<\/p>\n