A recycling company has been fined £40,000 after an employee became trapped and died in a bin lorry.

Henry Chambers, from Dartford, had been working for Bin Busy Recycling Limited at an aggregates site run by another company in Charlton, south east London, when the incident happened on July 5, 2019.

The 65-year-old had been unloading glass bottles from the refuse vehicle at a bay on the site when he became trapped between the lorry's tailgate and hopper.

He sustained multiple crush injuries and died in hospital four days later.

Mr Chambers’ wife, Gail, said: “The Christmas before Henry died, we had just celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary. It was a 40-year marriage which should not have ended as abruptly as it did.

“Henry was 65 and he kept saying he wanted to retire but there was no set time. There were lots of things we wanted to do when he retired. His big dream was to hire a Winnebago and drive Route 66, but he would have been just as happy down in Cornwall. His big things were holidays and family.”

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation was launched following the incident and found multiple faults with the refuse vehicle’s lifting equipment, with some parts excessively worn and even missing.

The equipment had not been thoroughly examined by a competent person after Erith-based firm Bin Busy Recycling Limited bought it in April 2017 and one should have been carried out every 12 months.

Although the company, based in Standard Wharf, Manor Road, did have arrangements in place for the vehicle to be maintained, these were focused on its roadworthiness and did not include inspection and maintenance of its lifting equipment.

Bin Busy Recycling Limited pleaded guilty to breaching regulations and was fined £40,000, ordered to pay £22,338.24 in costs and a victim surcharge of £181 at Westminster Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

HSE inspector Gordon Carson said: “Regular proactive maintenance and inspection of work equipment is vitally important to ensure equipment does not deteriorate to the extent that it puts people at risk or, as was tragically the case here, causes fatal injuries.

“Bin Busy failed to effectively maintain the lifting equipment on this refuse vehicle or arrange for it to be thoroughly examined in accordance with specified timescales.”