Postman dragged to death inquiry hears

Mail van dragged postman to his death, inquiry hears 24/6/14

A fatal accident inquiry into the death of Benbecula postman Ronnie Morrison has heard how his own mail van ran over him and dragged him down a slope.

A fatal accident inquiry was held in Lochmaddy Sheriff Court in front of Sheriff Noel McPartlin - the sheriff covering the court for the rest of the year - on Tuesday.

The first witness to give evidence was Lorna Senior - a Macmillan Nurse - who said she discovered a body lying underneath the van after leaving a patient’s house.

She told procurator fiscal David Teale she initially thought it was someone working under the vehicle.

She “leapt out of the car and went to him. I put my hand to feel if he was alright and I am sure, by that point, he was already dead.

Letters were scattered all around and “he must have had them in his hand,” she added.

Ex-soldier Craig Marsden, who just moved into the housing scheme a couple of months beforehand, said: “His body was entirely underneath the vehicle. He was facing (down) with his face against the tarmac.

He added: “His face was by the near side rear tyre. He was not conscious.”

At first, he thought detected a “faint pulse. I put my head on his rib cage but there was no breathing.”

He said he applied the handbrake after the accident.

Police traffic accident investigator Scott Lemmon said the Dingwall road traffic unit examined the scene and tested the vehicle.

He said their report concluded Mr Morrison would have gone to the rear to open the back offside door. With the gearstick left in neutral and the handbrake off the van would move backwards.

Mr Lemmon believed Mr Morrison was forced underneath and dragged some ten metres down the slope until the van came to rest.

He said tests showed the handbrake only worked after racking up three notches on its ratchet.

If in gear - without the handbrake - the van remained stationary a reconstruction at the scene showed, he stated.

In the reconstruction the van ended up in an almost identical spot, he added.

They “found no defects which would have contributed to the accident in any way,” and the van was “roadworthy and drivable,” he said.

As soon as the handbrake or gear was released there would be no delay and the van would move down the incline “almost instantaneously,” said the police officer.

He could not “see any way…the van would stay for any length of time.”

Solicitor Gordon Seaton, for the family, pointed out that the van had not shifted while Mr Morrison delivered mail to a nearby house and returned.

He asked how that could happen given it would take time for Mr Morrison to get to the house and back.

One possibility could be if the wheels hit the kerb and slowed down - but there was no evidence to show that, said the police officer.

The officer accepted they did not reconstruct a test with partially using the handbrake to two notches and getting out of the van.

Royal Mail Western Isles manager Eddie Mackenzie said the national organisation had now changed their rules, “probably as a result of this accident,” and another incident in Kinross so mail vans must be parked in reverse gear in facing up-hill and in first gear on a downward slope.

In addition, they must turn the van wheels towards the kerb.

The Royal Mail is also introducing vehicles which give a “speaking” reminder to drivers to check their handbrake, he added.

Sheriff Noel McPartlin observed: “How long Mr Morrison was out of the van and before he got struck by it we don’t really know.”

Solicitor Gordon Seaton responded the police say the vehicle moved back “almost immediately” and yet he delivered mail to the nearest house.

He said: “Clearly the Royal Mail is concerned” about similar accidents otherwise they “wouldn’t be fitting vehicles with these alarms.”

Sheriff Noel McPartlin said he would issue a written report at a later date.