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The North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year (NACTOY) has released its list of 38 cars, trucks and SUVs eligible for its 2022 awards. The roll call boasts a diverse range of vehicles from U.S., European&…
The Bosley Mill owner has been fined and given a suspended sentence for an explosion which killed four people.
George Boden, 64, from Stockport, was sentenced to nine months in prison[1], suspended for 18 months and handed a £12,000 fine at Chester Crown Court[2] today (June 18) after pleading guilty to offences under the Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) 1974.
He was also banned from being a company director for four years.
Dorothy Bailey, 62, Derek William Barks, 51, Derek Moore, 62, and Jason Shingler, 38, died in the blast in Bosley near Macclesfield[3] in 2015.
Others were seriously injured, and the sheer scale and impact of the explosion and the loss of lives that resulted, devastated the local community.
Top story: Man cut out of car with broken legs after head-on crash with reckless lorry overtaker[4]
The mill company, Wood Treatment Limited, was given a £75,000 fine for breaching HSWA S2, in failing to protect its employees from the risk of fire.[5]
Boden had previously admitted that the health and safety offence against the company was committed with his consent, connivance or neglect as managing director of Wood Treatment Limited (Health and Safety at Work Act, Section 37).
The sentencing was the culmination of a three month trial involving the company, director George Boden, operations manager Phillip Smith, 58, from Macclesfield[6], and mill manager Peter Shingler, 56, from Bosley.
In April, Justice May ordered the charges of corporate manslaughter and gross negligence be discontinued and directed the jury to find Phillip Smith and Peter Shingler, not guilty of any charges.
A joint investigation was launched between Cheshire Constabulary and the Health and Safety Executive, assisted by Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service.[7]
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Hughes, who led the police investigation, said: “The incident that day tore the heart out of the local community and resulted in a long and exhausting journey for those who lost loved ones and also those who suffered life-changing injuries.
“Following the incident our teams worked tirelessly to provide an extensive file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service who authorised the charges and a trial began in January.
“The families will never forget what happened that day and while this is not the outcome that they had hoped for I hope that this will, in some way, help to bring some form of closure for them.
“We’d ask the media to respect their privacy as they come to terms with the conclusion of this case.”
Sally Nicholson, Head of Operations for the North West, HSE, said: “Wood Treatment Ltd and its Director failed to ensure the health and safety of their employees, exposing them on a daily basis to the risk of a wood dust explosion, through lack of appropriate assessment and control.
“The company and Mr Boden in his capacity as Managing Director, have rightly been held to account for these significant failings.”
This is a force that the French fishermen wanted to reach this Thursday, May 6th morning. 50 to 70 boats sailed quietly from 7 a.m. in front of Saint-Helier harbor. A few smoke bombs were ignited in the early hours of the morning. A few miles away, two Royal Navy ships, the HMS, were called in to “monitor the situation.” Severn and HMS A spokesman for the British Ministry of Defense said that Tamar had been used as a “strict preventive measure in agreement with the Jersey government”. These “British” maneuvers should not impress us, “said Clement Beyonc, the French secretary of state for European affairs, adding that the two French patrol boats had not been sent long distances.
“With about fifty fishermen in the area, of course, we wanted to set up these two buildings in advance,” said a spokesman for the Channel and North Sea Maritime Region, referring to the work of the Athos Maritime Patrol Officer Gendermary and Maritime Affairs Themis: ” “To confirm. Both ships “rely on French waters to ensure the safety of human lives at sea, so be prepared to intervene if it deteriorates, for example, if a man is on board, there are resources in the area that can intervene as quickly as possible,” he explained. The 32-meter-long Athos already exists, while the 52-meter Themis is expected to reach the area soon.
The French fishermen set sail for the night off the coasts of Normandy and Breton. “The success of uniting all these people is unbelievable,” says Camille Leguerrell, from Corteret (Mansi), referring to “at least 70 boats”, including about fifteen Bretons. “A cargo ship, Commodore Goodwill, wants to go out and everyone is determined to stop it from going out,” he explained. “We’re not really blocking, we’re all out of harbor,” said Ludovic Lazaro, a Cranville (Manche) fisherman. “But the Jersey Port Master doesn’t want to let the cargo ship out if there are people around. He wants everyone to get out.”
Read more – Brexit: France puts pressure on Jersey over fishing[1]
According to a French military source, “the situation is generally calm.” “The guidelines for not blocking the interior of the port are currently being followed by French fishermen,” a source said. Fishermen must return to their home port early in the morning. “It’s a peaceful movement, it doesn’t have to be degenerate,” he said. Legure underscored. “Three fishing boats from Jersey came to support us,” he said. On Wednesday, Dmitry Rockoff, chairman of Normandy’s regional fisheries committee, promised it was not a question of blocking Saint – Heliore, but a “blow”. “There is no question in attacking (…) the goal of the game is to show oneself, to show that fishermen are steadfast, to support what is called,” he declared, “too much to the French minister of the sea, Anne Girard.”
On Tuesday, Annie Girardin said France was ready to take “retaliatory measures” if British authorities continued to block French fishermen from going to sea in Jersey. Prior to the National Assembly, he cited the effects of the “submarine cable transmission” from the island to France. As for Paris, the United Kingdom on Friday released a list of 41 French vessels, 344 of which have been approved for fishing in Jersey waters, but this list contains new requirements that have not been “previously consolidated, discussed or announced” as part of the Brexit agreement between London and Brussels, effective January 1. Area.
Read more – Brexit: France does not want to “impose new standards” on fishing licenses[2]
A fisherman said a delegation of French fishermen was due to meet a minister from Jersey on Thursday morning on a British boat in front of the port of St. Helier. “A boat that fished in Jersey last year (…) will be able to fish this year,” Jersey’s Assistant Minister of Environment and Foreign Affairs assured Gregory Guida of France on Thursday morning. “Considering the difficulties, we need to discuss directly with the fishermen what we are prepared to do. They all have our numbers,” he added, criticizing “a great bureaucracy.” Currently, applications for fishing licenses must go through the French and British Governments and the European Commission.
On the ITV television channel Good Morning Britain, Don Thompson, president of the Jersey Fishermen’s Association, on Thursday denounced French fishermen for “wanting to fish unhindered in our waters, while our boats are subject to all kinds of conditions on how much (fish) they can catch and where they can.” He further added that the government was “very unfair” to submit to this.
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Undated family handout photo of (left to right top row) Dinh Dinh Binh, Nguyen Minh Quang, Nguyen Huy Phong, Le Van Ha, Nguyen Van Hiep, Bui Phan Thang, Nguyen Van Hung, Nguyen Huy Hung, Nguyen Tien Dung, Pham Thi Tra My, (left to right second row) Tran Khanh Tho, Nguyen Van Nhan, Vo Ngoc Nam, Vo Van Linh, Nguyen Ba Vu Hung, Vo Nhan Du, Tran Hai Loc, Tran Manh Hung, Nguyen Thi Van, Bui Thi Nhung, (third row left to right) Hoang Van Tiep, Tran Thi Ngoc, Phan Thi Thanh,Tran Thi Tho, Duong Minh Tuan, Pham Thi Ngoc Oanh, Tran Thi Mai Nhung, Le Trong Thanh, Nguyen Ngoc Ha, Hoang Van Hoi, (bottom row left to right) Tran Ngoc Hieu, Cao Tien Dung, Dinh Dinh Thai Quyen, Dang Huu Tuyen, Nguyen Dinh Luong , Cao Huy Thanh, Nguyen Trong Thai, Nguyen Tho Tuan, and Nguyen Dinh Tu, are the 39 Vietnamese migrants, aged between 15 and 44, that were found dead in the back of a trailer in Essex on Oct. 23, 2019. (Essex Police via PA)
UK police arrested a Vietnamese national on Thursday in connection with the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants in 2019.
The 39 migrants, aged between 15 and 44, suffocated to death[1] in the back of a refrigerated lorry as they tried to make their way to the UK on Oct. 23, 2019.
The unnamed male arrested on Thursday is allegedly a part of a human trafficking network that moves migrants into the UK through Belgium and France in the back of lorries, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA).
Miles Bonfield, NCA’s head of organised immigration crime operations, said that the individual detained “is suspected by the Belgian authorities of having played a key role in placing at least ten migrants inside that lorry.”
The man is suspected of running safe houses in Brussels where the migrants stayed and organising onward taxis to a collection point near Bierne, France, where the migrants were loaded into the refrigerated lorry.
The lorry was then driven from the coastal town near the Belgium/France border to Zeebrugge, Belgium, and put onto a ferry to England.
The NCA said a Belgian investigating magistrate issued an arrest warrant last December for the man, whom it suspects was in the UK and had had links to the Birmingham area.
The man was tracked down and arrested at a supermarket petrol station just off the A66 in Middlesbrough, a town in North Yorkshire, England, on Thursday afternoon.
He is due to appear before Westminster Magistrates where extradition proceedings will begin.
Another Vietnamese man known as Ngo Sy Tai—also wanted by the Belgian authorities for his role in smuggling the victims—was arrested by the NCA in December 2020 and is waiting to be extradited.
Bonfield said officers at the NCA are determined to do all they can ” to get justice for the families of those who died, and disrupt and dismantle the cruel organised criminal networks involved in people smuggling.”
On Jan. 22, seven men convicted over the deaths of the 39 migrants were sentenced[2] to a total of 93 years and eight months in prison.
Eamonn Harrison, who loaded the migrants into the lorry in Bierne and drove them to Zeebrugge, was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Maurice Robinson, the lorry driver who found the bodies in Essex, England, was sentenced to 13 years and four months in prison after pleading guilty to 39 counts of manslaughter, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration, and acquiring criminal property.
Robinson’s boss Ronan Hughes and his co-conspirator Gheorghe Nica were sentenced to 20 years and 27 years in prison, respectively.
A Gloucester shop’s delivery lorry was photographed parked in a busy main road unloading after the council stopped them from parking on the pavement.
Bollards were installed[1] outside the Biedronki shop to stop “dangerous” parking on the pavement by the lorry and customers, at the beginning of the month on June 5.
The Polish grocery shop in Barton Street[2] has been caught up in a parking row since December, after an elderly man collapsed[3] trying to squeeze past the parked vehicles crowding the pavement.
Read more: Shopkeeper receives racist comments over parking row[4]
Concerns were also rained for pram and wheelchair users who were forced to cross the blind and busy bend.
The shop’s general manager Michael Radoszko, 35, has been against Gloucestershire County Council’s actions to install bollards there without an accessible loading bay for his shop.
The lorry was photographed in the carriageway at 3.45pm on Thursday, June 17, by a frustrated resident who claims it was there for 15 minutes.
Get the biggest stories from across Gloucestershire straight to your inbox, click here[5]
Cars were seen queuing on either side of the lorry on the bend, having to take turns driving around.
This comes after the council advised the shop to have their delivery vans park behind a nearby bus stop away from the narrowest part of the road.
Resident Ebrahim Moosajee, who lives opposite to the shop, said: “It was very busy. I saw cars coming up both lanes. They were having to wait either side of the lorry for cars to go past on each side.
“That was worse than before when the bollards weren’t there because it was actually blocking the road, can you imagine if emergency services had been there? That was a p*** take, to be honest.
“There’s no respect from the driver and the shop knows he has parked there so there is no consideration from the shop again. They’re disrespecting council regulations where they have offered them space to park just behind the bus stop.
“It’s very very dangerous, I fear for the drivers now. People can walk around. My concerns are more for the drivers now who have to stop on the road, just to wait for this lorry to go past.”
Biedronki shopkeeper Mr Radoszko said the delivery driver was unaware of the new rules. He claims the driver delivered three pallets of stock and was there for ten minutes.
Mr Radoszko said: “We are still waiting for a response from Highways [Gloucestershire County Council] to find a solution safer for everybody and we will teach our delivery lorries to park as safely as possible.
“If not, I am very worried I will be forced to close the store and over 20 people will lose their jobs.”
Councillor Usman Bhaimia (L, Barton and Tredworth) said: “The council should have negotiated with the shop beforehand.
“But I do not support deliveries like this, it is a risk to human life and limbs. I don’t want anyone to get hurt there. The parking there is wrong.
“When planning permission was originally given to the shop, they should have taken into consideration the parking problem. It’s a risk to passers-by, the pedestrians.”
The unit space the shop now inhabits was originally designed as a car show room.
Gloucestershire County Council has vowed to “closely monitor the area” after they saw the pictures. The local authority said unattended lorries on double yellow lines “can affect visibility” for pedestrians and road users.
A Gloucestershire County Council spokesperson said: “In line with the current restrictions, loading and unloading activity can take place outside of the peak hours of 8am-9am and 5pm-6pm.
“We have advised that an area next to the bus stop may be more suitable as it is away from the narrowest section of the road, whilst parking considerately to maintain access for local bus services.
“Lorries should not be left parked and unattended on the yellow lines however, as this can affect visibility for passing traffic and people crossing the road.
“Now the bollards have been installed and lorries are stopping in the carriageway, we will closely monitor the area to ensure the safety of pedestrians and motorists and will continue to work with the local community to see what else can be done to help.”
Traffic is building up south of Grantham following a collision between a car and a lorry which has blocked the southbound carriageway.
The incident happened between the B6403 (Woolsthorpe/Easton turn off) and the A151 (Colsterworth services) earlier this afternoon.
Traffic is queuing as far back as Little Ponton.
The AA says there are delays of 35 minutes and delays are increasing.
A man drove his BMW car “aggressively” on a rural road, overtaking a 44-tonne HGV lorry then slamming on his brakes in front of it.
A court heard the potential for damage in any accident on the main Denbigh[1] to Ruthin road was “huge”.
Mark Morris, 35, today pleaded guilty at Llandudno Magistrates Court to driving without due care and attention in the incident on the A525 in Llandegla.
READ MORE: Picture shows aftermath of serious barn fire caused by grinder sparks[2]
Magistrates disqualified Morris from driving for six months and fined him £162.
Prosecutor Julia Galston told the court that Aled Davies had been driving his 44-tonne vehicle in the Llanrhaeadr area on August 13 last year.
She said he became aware of a blue BMW in his rear dashcam “swerving” in the road and trying to overtake him.
The prosecutor said he eventually crossed the double white lines on a bend and overtook him.
She said: “Mr Morris then slammed the brakes on” causing Mr Davies to brake.
The court heard that someone in the BMW’s front passenger seat then wound down their window and made “gestures” at the lorry driver.
Further along the road, the lorry stopped and Morris in the BMW also stopped at the Drovers Arms pub.
“The defendant ran down the road and shouted abuse (towards Mr Davies),” said the prosecutor.
The prosecution played two clips from the lorry’s front and rear dash cameras to the court showing the incident.
Ms Galston said the “potential for damage was huge”.
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Chris Dawson, defending, said his client, of Lynton Ridge, Llandegla, initially believed that the lorry driver was the “villain of the piece”.
He accepted that it was “inappropriate” for Morris to go over the double white lines to overtake the lorry and it had been “aggressive” driving.
However, Mr Dawson added: “Whatever the potential for an accident resulting from Mr Morris’s manoeuvres in fact there wasn’t an accident and no-one was injured.”
The solicitor said any driving ban would cause Morris, who has five dependent children, “exceptional hardship” as they live in a rural location and need to attend appointments.
Both Morris – who has three forklift truck and excavator driving licences – and his partner gave evidence to back up this claim.
But chairman of the bench Peter Campbell noted the aggressive manner of driving on a road with a “high level of traffic”.
He handed the defendant the ban adding: “We do not find that you have demonstrated exceptional hardship – rather, inconvenience.
“This is down to the fact that there is another adult (his partner) available to drive.”
He added that arrangements can be made with the NHS for patients to go to any hospital appointments.
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