A lorry driver charged with causing death by dangerous driving after equipment fell from the back of his truck had received no training on safely strapping down heavy loads, a court was told.
Warrant officer Emma Beeney, 40, had been walking along a village lane in Etchingham, East Sussex with her husband, Rob, 44, and their pet dog.
A 60kg generator attached to a pneumatic hammer in the flatbed truck fell off and struck her, a jury was told.
Paramedics rushed to the scene and battled to save Beeney, who was serving with 5 Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.
But she suffered serious head injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Her husband Rob, a former army chief, suffered a fractured skull and concussion and was treated in hospital.
Stephen Dudley, 43, a builder from Ashford in Kent, went on trial today charged with causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He denies both charges.
Emma Beeney was killed after she was struck by building equipment which fell from a truck in Etchingham, East Sussex, a court has heard. Her husband Rob (right), a former army chief, suffered a fractured skull and concussion and was treated in hospital
The van’s driver, Stephen Dudley (above), is now on trial for causing death by dangerous driving
Paramedics rushed to the scene and battled to save Beeney, who was serving with 5 Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (above: the crash scene)
But she suffered serious head injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene (above circled: the generator which crushed her)
Lewes Crown Court heard Dudley had not received any training on how to use ratchet straps to secure a heavy load.
The jury was told heavy equipment was routinely strapped down on flatbed trucks to avoid it moving around during transit.
But the manager at the building firm where Dudley had worked for around two weeks told the court he had not provided any training on how to strap down a load.
Danny Turner of Applewood Construction in Ashford, Kent, said he thought Dudley was ‘competent enough.’
He said he had worked with the defendant on a job the previous week and had seen him using a strap.
So when he sent him out on a job in the second week he felt confident he would take relevant safety measures.
He said: ‘I’d seen him using a strap so I didn’t think he would need any training. He was competent enough.
‘I was pretty certain that he was sensible enough to know how to load.’
Ms Beeney’s husband (left) arrives at court with family today ahead of Stephen Dudley’s trial
As he was driving through the village the generator fell from the back of the flatbed Ford Transit as it went over a railway level crossing.
It ‘flipped’ into the road but because it was attached to a large mechanical hammer by hoses and cables it was dragged along the road behind the vehicle.
Initially it was dragged behind the truck in a straight line but hoses wrapped around the front of a parked car causing it slew across the road and onto the pavement.
Emma Beeney and her husband were both walking on the pavement when the generator hit them causing ‘tragic consequences’, the court was told.
Alan Gardner, prosecuting, said ‘Robert and Emma Beeney were then struck by the generator. Mrs Beeney was fatally injured. Robert Beeney suffered a skull fracture.’
The army officer was killed when an unsecured generator fell from the back of a flatbed truck (pictured)
After the death Applewood introduced measures to ensure all sub-contractors knew how to use ratchet straps.
Mr Turner told the court when he arrived at the scene of the accident Dudley had already been arrested and was sitting in a police car with the door open.
He said he approached Dudley as he sat in the car and could see he was upset and tried to console him.
Mr Turner said: ‘I put my hand on his shoulder. He was upset. He said: ‘I don’t know what happened mate, the straps snapped.’
He told the court he went over and examined the truck and found the straps still in the flatbed of the truck.
‘The strap was still laying across the back of it. It was draped over the sides,’ he said.
CCTV shows the moment after the van went over the railway line in the Sussex village
Alan Gardner, prosecuting, said two work colleagues travelling in the truck with Dudley heard ‘a boom’ as the vehicle went over the level crossing.
The generator was then thrown or flipped off the loading area and fell into the road where it was dragged along by hoses attached to a pneumatic hammer.
It then slewed across the road before mounting the pavement and his Emma and Rob Beeney who were walking their dog.
Earlier the court was told the unsecured generator had ‘bounced’ into the air after it went over a railway level crossing in Etchingham at around 7am on August 8 2016.
This generator came loose and hit the couple as they walked on the pavement, the court heard
The court heard Dudley, who was working as a builder for Applewood Construction, had loaded the truck early that morning.
He and two colleagues then set off from Ashford in Kent to Brighton, East Sussex – a journey of 56 miles.
Among the equipment loaded was a generator weighing around 60kg and mechanical hammer attached to the generator by hoses.
Mr Gardner said the vehicle had a series of ratchet straps designed to secure loads on the back of the truck.
He said: ‘As the driver it was his responsibility to ensure the load was safely secured on the way.
‘Unfortunately the defendant did not bother to strap down the load that morning, despite the presence of ratchet straps which are there for exactly that purpose.
‘He did not strap down the items, they were left unsecured. His failure was to have tragic consequences.’
He said both the generator and the hammer were moving around on the rear of the truck as it drove.
The work van at the scene after the incident in August 2016. The driver is now on trial
Mr Gardner said under Highway Code rules it is the responsibility of the driver to secure down any heavy objects safely on a vehicle.
He said as such the driving fell far below the standards of a careful and competent driver which the law requires.
Stephen Ashby, a police crash investigator, found the generator left the rear flatbed and was dragged 31.5 metres by the hoses before the impact.
The court heard that after the generator struck the couple Dudley got out of the vehicle to check what had happened before shouting to a colleague in the van: ‘Quick, come over here.’
In a statement to the walker Tommy Walker, a labourer and a passenger in the vehicle, said Dudley was travelling at around 35mph when he went across the level crossing.
In a statement he said: ‘There was a big impact and then a huge boom and we all said: ‘Bloody hell’ at the same time.’
Prosecutors say the generator was not strapped down properly before the journey started
He said shortly afterwards Dudley got out of the vehicle and shouted: ‘Quick, come over here’ and he went over where he saw the two victims who were both covered in blood.
He told police: ‘I would like to confirm I did not witness the straps being put on to secure the generator or anything else.’In a statement to the court Ben Barrett, a labourer at Applewood who was also a passenger in the truck at the time, said: ‘There was big bump before the level crossing.
‘The back wheels hit and I heard a sound metal on metal. I looked in my door mirror. I saw the generator rolling or flipping behind the van. No sooner had I looked I told Steve the generator had come off.
‘I thought the generator was going to explode because of the petrol. Steve pulled up and got out. Tom came back and said two people had been hit. I went to join the other two. I could see there were two people laid on the ground.
‘She was quite bad. Both were unconscious. Steve was saying: ‘Oh my God.’ The male woke up. He didn’t know what had happened and he started going through his rucksack by the wall.’
The trial continues.
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