91Èȱ¬

A fuel company in County Antrim has been fined £40,000 after one of its employees was crushed to death at work.

Father-of-two Peter Reid, 52, was on his way to a mechanic to have a fault fixed on the oil tanker he was driving when the incident happened.

He had stopped to carry out a repair on the lorry when it rolled back while he was underneath it in July 2021.

His employer Tweed Fuels, of Portmuck Road near Islandmagee, has been ordered to pay the fine within six months.

The company was charged with failing to ensure the safety and of its employees between 24 May and 2 July 2021.

In June this year the company owner Stephen Tweed pleaded guilty to the charge, having previously denied the offence.

Details of what had happened emerged during a sentencing hearing at Belfast Crown Court on Monday.

Mr Reid had identified a problem with the tanker's air brake system on 25 June 2021.

He told Mr Tweed, who was responsible for all issues relating to vehicle maintenance, that the problem had caused the lorry to come to an abrupt halt several times.

A fellow employee repaired the vehicle by pushing a loose pipe back into place, allowing it to be used over the subsequent few days.

But on 1 July Mr Reid again raised the issue with his employer, saying it had caused the lorry to stop several times that day.

Mr Tweed told Mr Reid to take the vehicle to a mechanic but the fault occurred again on that journey.

The judge said: "Mr Reid, as he had done on previous occasions, got underneath the vehicle and pushed the pipe back in place into place to release the air brake.

"This part of the road was on a slight incline and the reconnection of the pipe by him allowed the vehicle to move.

"Unfortunately the vehicle rolled back and he was underneath it."

A post-mortem examination found that Mr Reid's death was caused by asphyxia along with chest injuries.

After Mr Reid died his employer went to Antrim Police Station for a voluntary interview and cooperated with detectives.

The judge said that Mr Tweed's admission of the health and safety breach indicated that the company accepted it "did not take reasonable steps" to ensure its employee's safety.

A defence barrister said that Tweed Fuels was a small family business primarily supplying home heating oil.

The barrister issued an apology on behalf of Mr Tweed and said: "The deceased was very much a respected, diligent and valued member of the team."

As Mr Reid's wife Linda and his two children Adam and Zoe sat in the court's public gallery, the judge paid tribute to a "much loved" husband and father.

He said that after reading a "heartfelt" statement made by Mrs Reid it was clear that her husband's death had had a devastating effect on her and their children.

In her statement Mrs Reid said: "It's almost as if part of me has died because the death of Peter has left such a big void."

In setting the fine, the judge considered Mr Tweed's "high level" of cooperation with police in the aftermath of the death and the company's previously "impeccable" health and safety record.

The judge said there was a lack of evidence to suggest a "systemic failure" and added that the firm had taken action to improve its procedures.