A NORTH-EAST company has been prosecuted after a man was severely injured following an accident at work.

Trevor Jones, 56, from Darlington, needed two operations after the accident on January 28, at Italian-owned manufacturing company, Ilpea Ltd, on the Skelton Industrial Estate, east Cleveland.

Guisborough magistrates heard that Mr Jones, a driver working for Darlington-based company Davies Transport, parked at the front of the site.

He had to walk near to where a forklift truck was being used to find someone from Ilpea, because the path was blocked.

The forklift truck driver was moving containers weighing 174 kilos each and at least one of them fell on to Mr Jones, breaking two vertebrae.

The company was prosecuted under the Health and Safety Act 1975.

Health and safety inspector Michael Bone, prosecuting, said: "Workplace transport is the second biggest cause of fatal accidents in the UK. In this case, there were no controls in place to control the movement of vehicles and pedestrians."

Simon Catterrel, defending, said: "The company deeply regrets the incident. It should have had a system where you don't get drivers going round the back to look for people.

"It was something of a freak accident. The company has never been in trouble before and they are highly embarrassed to be here today. They will do their best to make sure it never happens again."

The company pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay £15,000 plus £1,653 costs within 28 days.