Shipdham forklift death : Companies fined over teen's death

The furious father of a teenager who died in a forklift accident while working unsupervised has described fines handed to his employers as "a joke".

Zachariah Richardson died on October 24, 2020 while working on a farm in Shipdham after being crushed by a forklift truck.

After being prosecuted by Breckland Council over health and safety breaches, his employers - D D Dodds and Sons Ltd and Lincs Firewood - were fined a combined £23,000 in Chelmsford Magistrates' Court.

Legal costs and surcharges levied against the firms took this figure up to just over £69,000, after Evan Jenkins, who owns both companies, pleaded guilty to the charges.

But father-of-10 Kevin Richardson said the fines did not reflect the severity of the loss of his son.

He said: "This just shows there is no justice for the working man and that there will never be any justice for my son - £23,000 is a joke.

"As a family we are really unhappy with the outcome of the case - the fine is barely £1,000 for every year of his life."

The 18-year-old had been working for Mr Jenkins for a little over two weeks when the accident happened.

An inquest held last year saw a coroner raise serious concerns about the company's health and safety approach.

These largely centred around Zach being left to work on the site unsupervised and the fact a safety mechanism preventing one of the trucks from moving unmanned had been disabled.

District judge Christopher Williamson said he agreed with the coroner Jacqueline Lake's conclusion that the teenager's death was avoidable.

In his sentencing remarks, he said: "The decision to leave Zach alone was plainly a very poor decision.

"He was young and still inexperienced.

"There was little understanding of the importance of health and safety and the perception of risk was poor.

"This was not about Zach's competence, it is about a significant failure to make sure he was using safe equipment in a safe manner and was unsupervised.

"Zach's death was entirely avoidable. It was an absolute tragedy which could have been - and should have been - prevented."

D D Dodd and Sons Ltd was fined £19,000 over its breaches, while Lincs Firewood was fined £4,000.

The two companies were also required to share £46,000 in legal costs.

In a victim impact statement, his mother Wendy Richardson said: "To have to say goodbye to somebody who you brought into the world and who was so young was soul-destroying. It was horrendous."

Mr Richardson added: "I know Zach would not want us to be like this - angry all the time - but we just feel like we've got so many unanswered questions and we feel as though there has been no progress and no closure.

"I just wish Zach had a few more years. I wish he had been able to live more of his life, had a chance to experience more and become a dad.

"He was a special boy - I would change places with him in an instant if it would bring him back."

Meanwhile, Mr Richardson said the court case had left him feeling as though his son's life did not matter.

He added: "They spent more time in court arguing over the legal costs than they did talking about my son.

"It was an absolute disgrace."

Zach was the seventh oldest child in his family and had nine siblings - Emily, Sadie, Jacob, Jasmine, Joshua, Joseph, Shannon, Jeremiah and Isaac.

The family lives in Boston, Lincolnshire, but on the day of his death Zach was working on Elm Farm, near Dereham.