Sentencing due following Vauxhall factory death

The owner of Vauxhall will be sentenced tomorrow following the death of a worker at its car factory in Ellesmere Port.

General Motors UK Ltd is being prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after Stanley Ian Heard was killed at the North Road plant in July 2010.

Liverpool Crown Court will pass sentence tomorrow at 10am.

Mr Heard, 59, from Birkenhead, received multiple injuries when he was crushed between a conveyor roller and cross bar and died in hospital 11 days later.

General Motors, of Osborne Road in Luton, pleaded guilty to single breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 at an earlier hearing.

The charges relate to failing to ensure the safety of employees, and failing to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery.

Mr Heard, who joined Vauxhall as an apprentice at the age of 16, was an electrician who loved cars.

His sister Margaret said: “Ian worked for the company for 40-odd years, it was the only job he ever had. He was planning to retire and was looking forward to doing charity work.

“He took a real pride in his cars, he loved his Vauxhall cars.”

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