Oak View Tree Specialists has been fined £3,000 with costs of £1,500 after a skip loading dumper truck overturned and injured a worker.

The victim, who was an employee of the company, was working at the rear of a house in Benfleet, Essex on 26 September 2014.

The 19-year-old worker had only a few minutes training on the use of the machine. He had no driving licence and was not wearing a safety belt when he overturned the vehicle.

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He was airlifted to hospital where he was found to have broken his back.

He spent months in hospital and his injuries are life changing.

It is not known if he will ever walk again.

On 17 June, the Essex company pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 9(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 as it failed to ensure its employees received adequate training for the purposes of health and safety.

HSE Inspector Keith Waller said: "This was entirely an avoidable incident. The defendant failed to take reasonably practicable measures because they allowed their employee to operate a dangerous item of plant machinery with only the very minimum of training.

"It is not acceptable to put drivers into vehicles that they have not previously operated, or without the necessary training by a qualified and competent instructor."

(LM)