Man was crushed to death by bin truck
A DAD-OF-ONE was crushed to death when the bin he had been sleeping rough in was tipped into a waste collection lorry outside Manchester Apollo, an inquest heard.
David Warrington, 43, had climbed into a waste container in the theatre’s car park via an open side panel, following a gig in 2014.
His body was later found by fire crews after the bin burst into flames while being collected.
At the time, Mr Warrington had been living in hostels and the streets of Manchester city centre, during a brief period of homelessness.
In the early hours of September 15, waste collection driver Wayne Fitton arrived at the Apollo following a concert the night before. He had been working as a collection driver for European waste company, Veolia.
The inquest heard that Mr Fitton was unable to inspect the container due to a defect with one of the side panels.
He told the court the bin had been heavier than usual, weighing around 600kg in contrast to a normal weight of 250kg.
Mr Fitton said it had crossed his mind a person could have been inside, but believed the concert the night before could have accounted for the additional weight.
As he began to empty the waste from the container into his wagon, Mr Fitton reported seeing flames in his vehicle’s camera.
It was only when fire crews attended and emptied the waste container that Mr Warrington’s body was tragically found.
A postmortem concluded that Mr Warrington had died as a result of “crush asphyxia” after being crushed by the weight of the waste.
Following a week-long hearing at Manchester Coroner’s Court, a jury unanimously concluded that Mr Warrington’s death was an accident.
Helen Warrington told the inquest her son had been a huge City fan and adored his young daughter and siblings.
She said: “David was extremely clever but started using drugs when he was about 20 years old.”