One of South Yorkshire's main bus operators has been sentenced for safety breaches after a teenage apprentice was trapped under a 14 tonne bus when its air suspension failed.
Ben Burgin, who was then 17, needed restorative plastic surgery to his nose and eye socket following the incident at Stagecoach Yorkshire's garage in Wakefield Road, Barnsley, on 7 September 2009.
Barnsley Magistrates' Court heard Mr Burgin, from Penistone, was working alongside an experienced fitter to correct a braking fault on a bus fitted with an air suspension system. Rather than moving the bus over an inspection pit, they attempted to fix the fault with the bus still on the garage floor.
Mr Burgin slid beneath the bus near the front passenger wheel and was making adjustments when the air suspension failed suddenly and the bus dropped on him, badly injuring his face. He was freed when another worker rushed to help and they were able to raise the bus sufficiently to get him out.
The incident was investigated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) which brought the prosecution against the operator's owners, Yorkshire Traction Company Ltd of Stockport, Cheshire.
The company, of Dawbank, Stockport, pleaded guilty to two offences under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, was fined a total of £15,000 and ordered to pay £8,473 in costs.