3 July 2012 Last updated at 14:22 ET

Bassetlaw District Council fined for bin lorry death

A council has been fined £25,000 after a 76-year-old man on a mobility scooter was killed by a bin lorry.

In July 2008 Derek Baines was near his home in Mellish Road, Langold, near Worksop in Nottinghamshire when the lorry reversed into him. He died later in hospital.

Bassetlaw District Council admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 at an earlier hearing.

At Nottingham Crown Court the council was also told to pay £12,987 costs.

'Blind spots'

The court was told by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) the lorry only had a one-man crew and the incident could have been prevented had there been a reversing assistant.

The driver was only aware something was wrong when he noticed shopping spilling into the road behind him.

After the hearing, HSE inspector David Butter said: "If the council had staffed the refuse collection lorry appropriately then Mr Baines would probably still be alive today.

"Very large vehicles such as this have a number of blind spots and it was impractical to expect a lone driver to reverse safely without the aid of a colleague walking behind to check the path was clear."

Bassetlaw District Council said it would comment in due course.