Owners fined for artic death
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• The Birmingham-based owners of a runaway artic which crashed into a cottage and killed a Derbyshire man have been fined L12,500.
Shuttlehurst Ltd, which has gone into voluntary liquidation, did not appear at Bakewell Magistrates Court to answer charges of using a vehicle with defective brakes, without insurance or an 0-licence.
Builder John Cooper, 56, of Breamfield Park, Wirksworth, was killed when the artic's trailer brakes failed as it descended Cromford Hill in August 1994.
Driver Tom Burns suffered injuries which have left him paralysed from the waist down.
The court heard that the brakes on the trailer, which was carrying a 20-tonne load, were virtually inoperative because they were not correctly adjusted. Prosecutor Brian Gunn said there was a lack of routine maintenance. He said the company only had insurance for the service and repair of vehicles— not for road haulage. It also lacked an 0-licence.