Driver who 'cut corners' pleads guilty to breaching Health and Safety Act

An excavator driver has pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety Act after an accident that left a pedestrian dead.

Colin Clifford, 50, from Enfield, had been operating an excavator in a fenced-off area outside a house in Westminster when the incident happened.

Clifford accidentally operated the wrong lever of the machine which allowed a number of stored buckets to fall to the pavement, striking an 81-year-old pedestrian, Joseph Johnston, who died soon afterwards.

HSE inspector Lisa Chappell said the incident was the 鈥渨orst case of what can go wrong when operators cut corners鈥�.

Clifford was fined 拢2,500 with costs of 拢1,500.

Topics