A company has been fined £450,000 for health and safety legislation breaches after a teenage motocross star was crushed to death when a fork lift truck overturned.
Ben Pallier-Singleton suffered fatal head and neck injuries when his truck overturned down a sloping roadway at Vinyl Compounds Ltd in Derbyshire on February 10, 2015.
The 19-year-old’s grief-stricken mother told a court her family was now ‘serving a life sentence’ after Vinyl Compounds failed to train her son or make sure his workplace was safe.
Ben Pallier-Singleton suffered fatal head and neck injuries when his truck overturned down a sloping roadway
Ben took part in motocross competitions across the region and would travel to Belgium for practice sessions
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said Ben, from Disley in Cheshire, suffered fatal crush injuries.
Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court heard the HSE investigation found Ben had not been adequately trained and was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash.
The court heard the company did not inform their employees of the speed limit on-site, had no measures in place to control speed and failed to have adequate lighting and edge protection in place to avoid fork lift trucks overturning.
Vinyl Compound Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching a section of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and a regulation of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
The company was fined £450,000 and ordered to pay court costs of £71,728.
Before working at PVC manufacturer Vinyl Compounds, Ben had studied mechanics at Stockport College.
He took part in motocross competitions across the region and would travel to Belgium for practice sessions.
![His mother said 'Ben was a young man at the start of his life, full of life, fun and the excitement of plans and ideas for the future with his girlfriend, Kensey [pictured]'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/09/04/21/43E8055100000578-4852024-image-a-12_1504557764718.jpg)
His mother said ‘Ben was a young man at the start of his life, full of life, fun and the excitement of plans and ideas for the future with his girlfriend, Kensey [pictured]’
His mother Kathryn Pallier said after the sentencing hearing: ‘Ben was and always will be my beloved son, and much-loved brother to Dan and Sophie.
‘Ben was a young man at the start of his life, full of life, fun and the excitement of plans and ideas for the future with his girlfriend, Kensey.
‘He was the shining light of our family and brought everyone together.
‘I am heartbroken and angry that Ben could go to work and be killed because his employer, Vinyl Compounds, took so little care of him, failed to train him or make sure the workplace was safe.
‘It is utterly shocking that this can happen even now.
‘The directors who made the decisions will be now able to get on with their lives but we are serving a life sentence.’
The tragedy happened at Vinyl Compounds Ltd in Derbyshire (pictured), in February 2015
HSE inspector Berian Price said the incident could have easily been prevented.
‘The company’s management of fork lift truck driving operations and its failure to provide various measures to ensure the safety of the external yard area coupled with the lack of safe driver measures, such as wearing a seat belt, exposed employees to serious safety risks.
‘Sadly, in this case, these failures resulted in the needless loss of Mr Pallier-Singleton’s life.’