A council van which crashed in Northamptonshire, killing a worker, had had its brakes tested on several occasions, amid concerns that they were locking, an inquest has heard.
According to the BBC, Alan Heels, 19, reported the problem to mechanics on no less than three occasions before he was involved in a crash with a lorry in 2007.
The inquest heard that the van skidded and crashed when Mr Heels attempted to brake. The passenger in his vehicle a Mr Kieran O’Driscoll suffered multiple injuries in the crash and later died.
Mr Heels’ vehicle slid in to the back of the lorry on the A14 at Kettering as it pulled out in front of him, but claims that he braked and his brakes locked.
Mr Heelis worked for Kettering Borough council and had reported the brake problem several weeks earlier. The van was sent away to be checked but when it was returned to him the brake problem was still not resolved and it was sent away again. A mechanic took it for a test drive and found no problem but the following day Mr Heels reported the same problem and the vehicle was sent away again.
The inquest heard that the company responsible for maintaining the van- Stormont Truck and Van Ltd – supplied job sheets confirming that the work had been done.
In the majority of situations such as this where a driver has gone in to the back of someone else there is an assumption that the driver of the vehicle, who has gone in to the back of the vehicle, is liable. However, it may be that the accident was not caused by a failure on Mr Heelis ’behalf but was in fact due to the faulty brakes which he had attempted to rectify on several occasions. Therefore, if the inquest finds that Stormont Truck and Van Limited should have been able to fix the problem, they may be liable as a result.
