Watlington building site lorry death an 'accident'

A man whose head was crushed by a lorry died in an "accident", an inquest jury has ruled.

Jason Hickman was crushed when a dumper truck reversed sharply after he attached a tow chain between it and a Jewson lorry that was stuck in the mud.

The 47-year-old had been working on a gas pipeline in Watlington, Norfolk, in December 2017.

The inquest heard there had previously been breaches of health and safety rules, but improvements had been made.

The inquest, at The King's Centre in Norwich, heard the driver of the dumper truck had not been trained to use it.

Norfolk coroner Jacqeline Lake said Mr Hickman, of Cannock, Staffordshire, was working on a site run by BR Industrial when he died from a fractured skull and traumatic head injury.

She directed the jury that the "only one possible" inquest verdict was that the death was an accident.