15-07-2025
Jury returns verdict over Jaguar Land Rover collision that led to amputation
A project manager has been cleared of a health and safety offence after one of his staff lost part of his leg in a forklift truck collision at Jaguar Land Rover.
Gordon Wellings, aged 66, was accused of being responsible for an incident at the plant in Lode Lane, Solihull on August 13, 2020, when he was overseeing the installation of high-level pipework.
A trial at Birmingham Crown Court heard that he had tasked Kevin McGunnigle and a colleague to move some large unused pipes.
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The workers decided to use a forklift truck to transport the six metre long, 40 kilogram tubes from the far corner of the warehouse, known as the 'graveyard', to the location where they were to be installed.
But as they negotiated a dog-leg bend 57-year-old Mr Gunnigle, who was walking alongside the truck guiding the way, got his leg caught underneath the vehicle.
It resulted in him having to have part of the limb amputated.
Mr Wellings, of Longheadland in Ombersley, Droitwich, was accused of only giving Mr Gunnigle and his colleague 'vague instructions' before he 'left them to get on with it'.
It was also argued by the prosecution he had not completed a risk assessment and method statement or sought approval for the job from principal contractor Fox Health and Safety Services.
However following nine hours' deliberation a jury found Mr Wellings not guilty of a health and safety offence by a majority verdict. He was subsequently acquitted.
