A HS2 contractor has been fined £400,000 after a truck driver suffered a broken nose when his vehicle fell off a ramp. The incident occurred on July 27, 2021, at a site in Copthall North near Uxbridge, West London, where the tipper truck fell two metres and landed on the driver's side.
Injuries and Safety Failures
The driver also sustained a cut hand and a shoulder injury. Inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) visited the site and found no signs on the haulage routes being used. They also identified that there was no edge protection in place to prevent vehicles going over the edge of the ramp, and that excavations adjacent to some vehicle routes had unsupported, vertical faces at risk of collapse.
SCS Railways and Subcontracting
SCS Railways, a joint venture set up by Skanska Construction UK Limited, Costain Limited and Strabag AG, were building a cut and cover tunnel. These are shallow tunnels built on the surface before being buried. SCS Railways had contracted another company to transport excavated soil away from the area.
On the morning of the incident, the SCS earthworks team changed their working area after finding the excavation material could not be used. This moved the excavator's loading position and created a new traffic route, but the change inadvertently left an unprotected edge on the bank above. The first tipper truck driver used the higher-level bank instead of the intended new route, causing his vehicle to slip on the ramp. The next driver followed the same path, and his vehicle veered off the edge of the bank.
Legal Outcome
SCS Railways, of 1 Hercules Way, Leavesden, Watford, pleaded guilty to contravening section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. It was fined £400,000 and ordered to pay costs of £8,974 at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court on June 16, 2026.
HSE Inspector Gordon Carson said: “SCS had detailed procedures in place for much of the work at the site, including temporary works schemes for excavations. However, its failure to properly plan and promptly communicate changes in vehicle routes created unsafe conditions for the drivers of tipper trucks. The consequences of this could have been even more serious than they were for the driver involved in this incident.”
