1

My Occupation was a heavy plant operator i first started out in this line of work around late 1989 and worked for various companies and worked on various contracts ranging from earth moving,pipe lines,quarries,general plant hire and the demolition sector for a while etc.And i operated various types of machines ranging from excavators,dozers,track loaders,and rigid dump trucks to articulated dump trucks.
My last employer i stated working for just before i had my accident was gary hather plant hire based at mosborough street rotherham south yorkshire around november 1989 and was employed as a 360 degree excavator driver.

2

On the 17th january 1990 i was asked by a work colleague by the name of stephen derbyshire to go and assist him with a hydraulic repair on a jcb 3cx site master that had broken down on a construction site in sheffield. After the hydraulic repair had been done and the oil had been replaced he then told the driver that we would fill up the with diesel fuel at the same time. The jcb driver moved the machine over to the access road on the site where the pick up truck was parked,there was a tank of fuel on the back of the pick up truck and the fuel had to be pumped by hand to the filler neck on the jcb this was accordingly a two man job as another person needs to hold the fuel hose in position of the filler neck of the jcb to prevent the fuel hose coming free due to the force of the fuel been pumped through the hose and spilling every where,in other words the man who is operated the hand pump cant be in two places at once this was actualy confirmed from the manufactures jcb in a letter dated 9th december 1996. The design of the filler neck was a 90 degree unrestricted flow elbow type is very shallow in depth 75mm = 3" to the fuel tank and the rate of fuel been pumped had to be controlled at the filler neck to prevent back pressue,blow back,overflow of fuel this would be impossible by the man who is operating the hand pump as he would be unable to see the filler neck at a approximate distance of 12' where the fuel tank was situated on the back of the pickup truck on this particular model of jcb 3cx site master which was positioned in the bulkhead of the machine directly in front of the drivers windscreen who had clear good all round visability to the left and right of the machine and to the front from the drivers seat.

4

Due to the position of the fuel tank and filler neck you have to climb up onto the side of the jcb to get access to the filler cap to enable you to do the job properly which i did on that day.You have to stand in a awkward position with your right foot on the access step into the cab and your left foot positioned on the main frame of the and lean forwards to the the filler cap. The two hydraulic cylinders of the front bucket rest horizontal along the main frame of the jcb while i was in that position mentioned above and the fuel was been pumped by stephen derbyshire from the tank on the back of the pick up truck the driver of the jcb suddenly without warning operated the controls by lowering the front bucket and crushed my left foot and ankle above the steel toe capped boots i was wearing.

5

I screamed out and he failed to raise the front bucket and kept on crushing my foot until my screams were finally heard,he then released the front loader arm to free my foot. i then collapsed off the side of the jcb collapsing onto the road,the two of them didn't take it very seriously what had happened,they failed to report the accident to the site manager or forman or even call for a ambulance to get me medical assistance i then struggled to get into the pick up truck and then stephen derbyshire took me back to the yard and reported the accident to gary hathers girlfriend, .he was gone for ages and it seemed like forever as i was then going into shock,he then came back from the office and took me to rotherham district hospital,he then half carried me into casualty and left me with the staff and i just passed out and came around a while later with the doctors and nurses around me and i temporally lost my sight and passed out again.it took up to 2hrs approximately to get me to hospital from the time the accident happened

 

6

You will see from reading civil action agains't the lawyers and jcb evidence page i discovered there was a safety step should of been fitted to the jcb 3cx sitemaster i had my accident on just below where my left foot was positioned on the main frame and hydraulic arm of the front bucket this information was given to me during a telephone conversation with the man who originally suppled the information in the letter dated 9th december 1996 due to the missing safety step i was forced to stand in the position that i did on the day i got seriously injured you can view,read all this information and pictures of two differnt model jcb 3cx sitemaster models to demonstrate what im talking about on the jcb evidence link page.

7

The only possible way that the fueling operation could be carried out by one person is by a powered source electrically or pto shaft which both operate the pump fitted to a fuel tank fitted to a truck etc or towed fuel bowser and at the end of the hose is a fuel trigger gun that allows you to control the flow of fuel but you would still have to stand in the position that i did on that particular jcb 3cx sitemaster model to be adjacent to the filler neck to do the job safely and avoid spilling fuel every where,this was also confirmed by the manufactures jcb in the same letter dated 9th december 1996.

EXAMPLE

For you to understand what im talking about when you go to the garage to fill your car up with fuel its electrically pumped from underground storage tanks and you have a trigger gun on the fuel hose and you have to stand adjacent,close to the fuel filler neck of your car and to be able to control the flow of fuel into the tank of your car,the more pressure you apply to the trigger gun on the fuel hose that increases the flow of fuel and due to air in the tank it can cause back pressure,blow back which means the fuel can come gushing back towards you and spilling all over the garage forecourt which im sure\ has happened to many people who own a car.