Council ordered to pay £25k after recycling lorries knocked down power lines

A local authority has been ordered to pay more than £25,000 in fines and costs after its recycling collection vehicles twice struck low voltage lines during tipping.

The Health & Safety Executive investigated the incidents in June and October 2010 at Lluest and Ystradgynlais. In both cases the lines were knocked down to the ground.

The HSE claimed that council employees, agency workers and passers-by narrowly avoided electrocution or injury, and that there were issues with the method of work.

The collections involved vehicles that tip in order to empty material into the body of the lorries.

Powys County Council pleaded guilty at Brecon Magistrates’ Court earlier this month to breaches of s. 2(1) and s. 3(1) of the Health and Safety Act 1974.

The authority was ordered to pay £9,300 in fines and £15,990 in costs.

HSE Inspector Helen Jones said: "Powys County Council failed to take all reasonably practicable measures to avoid the vehicles coming into contact with overhead lines, which could have had tragic consequences.

"Lessons should have been learned after the first incident, but they clearly weren't and it is disappointing that it took a further near-miss for appropriate action to be taken. Following the second incident the council stopped using the vehicles in question and introduced a different system for collecting recycled material from the kerbside."