JLR worker crushed to death by lorry at factory
AJAGUAR Land Rover worker died after being crushed by a truck as he lost control of his motorbike, a jury has decided.
Kieren Rowe, a 23-year-old father of one, died after he collided with the back of a truck at the JLR base in Damson Lane, Solihull, on September 26 last year.
An inquest at Birmingham Coroner’s Court heard the motorcyclist became trapped between two of the wheels of the lorry after they had ridden over his body.
Mr Rowe, of Mayfair Drive, Tamworth, had been unable to stop in time when the lorry pulled out, and he lost control of his bike, ending up underneath the vehicle.
Medics were unable to perform CPR because of Mr Rowe’s position under the vehicle and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The cause of death was given as aspiration of blood consistent with a road traffic collision.
Mr Rowe’s father, Graham, who also works for JLR, said his son loved fishing and had a young daughter.
“He would have been leaving his shift that evening and coming straight home,” he said.
“I didn’t see my son that day because of the time my own shift started but my wife and daughter saw him in the morning.
“I think I spoke to him on the phone that day and all seemed fine with him.”
Mr Rowe, who was a service engineer at JLR, had just finished his shift and had been travelling home on the day it happened. He was on his Honda 125 and travelling along a road inside the Solihull JLR site, which has a 20mph speed limit. Mr Rowe would been travelling between 27mph 30mph, the jury told. Douglas Saunders, the driver of the lorry said: “I was just leaving the plant to pick up another load for the truck. I approached the junction, which is a give way. I allowed two or three cars to pass and continued to look left and right, before pulling out. “I suddenly saw this motorcycle from my right and I saw the rider wobble and look up, as if he was have at and was shocked. I heard a bump and it all happened so quickly from there. I braked as soon as I could and I didn’t think the wheel had gone over him.
“I thought this was something I had managed to avoid in time, but unfortunately not.”
Mr Saunders said he remembered it had been raining heavily most of that day.
An investigation found that the lorry driver had performed the necessary observations at the junction, before pulling out.
It also found that Mr Rowe had applied his brakes several times as he approached the lorry, which could have caused him to lose control of the bike.
The jury returned a narrative verdict that Mr Rowe’s death was caused by a road traffic collision after he lost control of his bike, having attempted to brake.