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A bin collection supervisor crushed by his own lorry was tragically only one handbrake click away from safety, an inquest heard.
Andrew Betts, known as Andy, died on November 25 last year, just four days before his 62nd birthday, as he empted bins at Benenden School near Cranbrook.
Mr Betts, of Waterloo Road, Tonbridge, had been driving the refuse truck, but had climbed out of the cab to help his loader, Edward Sheldrake, the only other member of the crew, when the collection vehicle which had been parked on a slight incline began to roll forward.
Mr Betts had died instantly when he received massive chest injuries as he was caught between the cab door and the vehicle's frame when the truck rolled into a hedge, a jury at the Shepway Centre in Maidstone heard.
PC Robin Youngs, a police forensic investigation officer, examined the vehicle after the tragedy.
He found no mechanical defects with the 7.5-ton Isuzu collection vehicle, but the ratchet-style handbrake, similar to that found in most cars, had only been applied four clicks up.
Subsequent tests by PC Youngs demonstrated that five clicks on the handbrake would have been sufficient to hold the vehicle at the top of the 4.7 degree incline.
PC Youngs also tested to see if vibration from the engine - which had been left running by necessity to power the hydraulic lifts at the rear of the vehicle - or indeed the operation of the bin lifts themselves could have caused the handbrake to slip off a notch, but his conclusion was that this was not possible.
The officer examined the tachograph of the vehicle and determined it had been stationary for 19 seconds before beginning to roll. It reached a speed of 13mph, but there was evidence that the footbrake had been applied just before impact.
Although there were no witnesses, the court concluded that Mr Betts had descended from the cab, but once it began to roll away had run alongside and leaning in had unsuccessfully attempted to stop the vehicle by depressing the foot-brake by hand.
Coroner Alan Blunsdon heard evidence that although Mr Betts was fully qualified to drive the vehicle and extremely experienced, it was not his job to do so.
As a supervisor with waste contractor Urbaser, his main role was to schedule staff to the various rounds, and on that morning another driver, an agency worker named Mark Rabbett, had been due to drive the 7.5-ton narrow-access vehicle on Round six, the area around Cranbrook.
In a written statement read out at the inquest, Mr Rabbett described how Mr Betts had reassigned him to a different round that morning because of staff shortages, with Mr Betts deciding to drive Round six himself.
It is believed Mr Betts made this decision because Round six was the shortest round and so could be completed more quickly allowing him to return to base to continue his other supervisory duties.
Usually there were two loaders but, again, because of staff shortages there was only one, Edward Sheldrake, on duty that day.
Questioned by William Irwin, a barrister representing Mr Betts' family, Mr Sheldrake said he had worked previously for Urbaser's predecessors, Biffa, before transferring when Urbaser took over the contract for Tunbridge Wells council's bin collections in June 2019.
He said for six months Urbaser had made no changes but then had "completely altered all the collection routes."
He said: "Most of the new rounds were too big for anyone to complete. You'd end up finishing Monday's round on a Wednesday."
He said the company's policy had initially been "wait and see", hoping crews would speed up as they got used to the new routes, but eventually the firm had had to introduce a lot more collection lorries and hire more staff.
But, he said, shortages of both drivers and loaders continued because, by then, they were into Covid.
He said it was not unusual for a driver to get out and help the loaders, but it was up to the driver whether they did so.
The inquest heard that it was company policy that the driver carry out an inspection of the vehicle every morning before leaving the depot.
"He wouldn't be a man to cut corners..."
Mr Betts had done so and made a record of it as per company policy. He had noted no defects.
The jury also heard from Urbaser's assistant service manager Patrick Hopkins that the vehicle driven by Mr Betts was unusual in still having a ratchet handbrake.
The majority of vehicles in Urbaser's fleet were fitted with air brakes for both the foot pedal and the parking brake. They also had alarms that sounded if the cab door was opened with the parking brake not fully activated.
Mr Betts' vehicle had no such alarm. Mr Hopkins described Mr Betts as "an enthusiastic and conscientious employee and extremely hard-working," adding: "He wouldn't be a man to cut corners."
Mr Betts had been fit and well and no evidence of drugs or drink had been found in his body during a post mortem.
Mr Sheldrake said he and Mr Betts had already emptied 40 bins at a travellers' site in Cranbrook before reaching Benenden School where there were 138 bins to empty at 15 different collection points across the school grounds.
The accident had occurred outside the Medway Suite. Mr Sheldrake had been standing at the rear nearside of the vehicle and had attached two bins to the lift when the lorry began to roll forward.
He couldn't see Mr Betts from his position, but after calling out "Handbrake!" he looked in the nearside wing mirror and could see that Mr Betts was not in the cab.
Mr Betts didn't reply and Mr Sheldrake didn't see him again until after the tragic accident had happened.
The jury concluded the death was the result of an accident.
Expressing his condolences to Mr Betts' widow Lesley and his daughter Laura, coroner Alan Blunsden said Mr Betts "had been a very brave man trying to repair the situation."
The coroner said he would consider whether it was necessary for him to write a Regulation 28 report giving advice that might help prevent future accidents after considering written submissions from William Irwin, the barrister representing Mr Betts' family, and from David Whittaker, the barrister representing Urbaser.
Urbaser has the waste collection contract for both Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge and Malling councils.
Its standard of service has been criticised in both boroughs, which have levied fines on the firm for missing up to 1,000 bin collections a day.
Recently the newly appointed leader of Tonbridge and Malling council, Cllr Matt Boughton, said that sorting out the waste collection service was the key issue facing his council.
Both councils have recently suspended all garden waste collections, so that Urbaser can concentrate on manning household waste collections.
Mr Betts had been a keen darts player, having previously played for the Kent county team and been a contestant on the TV darts show Bullseye.
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