A PARCEL worker whose hand was crushed by a conveyor belt – and who was then told he was primarily to blame - has won almost £23,000 in damages.

Michael Tatterton, 57, of Huntington, York, suffered crush and friction injuries when his hand became caught while unloading a vehicle at a Parcelforce depot in 2016.

He underwent plastic surgery but Parcelforce concluded his failure to stop the equipment was the “primary cause of the accident,” which led him to be absent from work for 110 days, and he was given an attendance warning and issued with a two-year serious conduct warning.

However, Mr Tatterton used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain a Health and Safety Executive report on the accident which told the company: “You have failed to take effective measures to prevent access to dangerous parts of the machinery” and ordered measures be taken to remedy the contravention.

His union, the CWU, took up the issue and the serious misconduct warning was later reduced to one year and he received £22,800 damages.

A Parcelforce spokesman said: “We have improved our training to ensure correct procedures are now followed and we also worked with the HSE and manufacturer to improve and rectify the original inadequate guarding.”