The Crown Prosecution Service has announced it is charging a company with corporate manslaughter; the fourth such charge in as many months.
Mobile Sweepers (Reading) Ltd is being charged with the offence, along with its sole director Mervyn Owens, who faces a charge of gross-negligence manslaughter. Both relate to the death of an employee on 6 March 2012, who died from crush injuries after working on a repair underneath a road-sweeping truck at Mobile Sweepers' premises at Riddings Farm, near Basingstoke. He had inadvertently removed a hydraulic hose, which caused the back of the truck to fall on him.
In addition to the charges under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, charges have also been authorised for breaches of the:
The first hearing will take place at Basingstoke Magistrates' Court, on 21 March.
