South West Highways left with a steep fine of £500,000 after the death of road worker

The Health and Safety Executive have prosecuted the company and they have been told to pay half a million pounds for the death of Steven Tolly.  A court heard a culture of ignoring warnings and putting workers at risk had grown over the years.

Steven, the road worker, 48, from Tiverton died as he was filling in potholes.  This happened when a driver, Anthony Tompkins, veered through some cones, struck him with a wing mirror and threw him against a cauldron of hot tar.

Later on, in the year, Anthony was prosecuted but spared jail.

The day of Mr Tolly’s death, it is known that the paperwork had not been completed properly. Also, there was no qualified foreman in place to oversee the work.  Unfortunately, there had not been a safety zone marked out for any of the workers.  This meant that nobody was protected from oncoming traffic which had highs of 70mph.

The horrendous combination of poor driving and poor regard for health and safety requirements lead to tragic incidents.  This involved Mr Tolly being killed and left one of his co-workers with six broken ribs.

There was a great lack of planning therefore, drivers were passing with only inches to spare of exposed workers with no safety zone to protect them in the slightest.

Tompkins was delivering furniture to North Devon when he crashed just after another driver had seen his van weaving between lanes.

Mr Tolly was due to marry his long-term partner later on that year.  However he died six days after the incident in hospital.  Whereas, Anthony admitted to causing death by careless driving and was jailed for 12 months, suspended for two years and ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid community work.  He was also banned from driving for four years.

Due to the tragedy, many people were affected.  Therefore, the company had given financial help to the injured men and their families.