A scrapyard owner was fined £12,500 after a car plummeted from a faulty crane injuring a customer.

Clive Blackwell, 58, of Ronald Road, Halstead, admitted seven charges of breaching Health and safety regulations at Witham Magistrates' Court yesterday.

The court heard how Terrence Smith, a well-known customer at Blackwell scrapyard, was removing spare parts from a Fiat Uno when a car fell from the defective crane.

It bounced off the roof of another vehicle and landed in the area where Mr Smith was.

Sandy Carmichael, prosecuting for the Health and Safety Executive, said: "The extent to which the car hit Mr Smith was unclear.

"Presumably it was a glancing blow or there would now be no Mr Smith. He was exposed to considerable danger which he should not have been exposed to."

Don Wilson, also prosecuting for the Health and Safety Executive, said Mr Smith, 58, would spend the remainder of his life as a paraplegic.

He said: "During the lift the crane wire suddenly broke and the Maestro dropped on to another car.

"The crane driver went over to the scene and found Mr Smith lying on the ground next to the Fiat Uno and an ambulance was called immediately.

"The crane was in a patently defective condition. There were various faults detected and it should not have been used. It was unsuitable and would not have met any criteria set by the British Safety Standard.

"If it had been subject to a proper examination it would have been condemned pending major repairs or probably scrapped."

It was said the crane had not been throughly checked within the last 14 months in accordance with health and safety regulations.

It was also said the two-link chain used to lift the car was faulty and had not been examined within the last six months.

Blackwell, speaking in mitigation: "I was not aware the crane was defective. I have had it a long time and looked after it. It had never given any trouble in the past and it wasn't used to lift a great deal.

"Nobody saw Mr Smith in the yard and we all thought he was gone."

Blackwell has run the yard for around 30 years and employed two men. He was ordered to pay £12,500 in fines and £2,000 costs.

After the case, Mr Carmichael said: "The fines indicate how seriously the case was viewed by the magistrates."

He said it should send a clear message to people who were responsible for machinery.

Clive Blackwell at court yesterday.

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