RALEIGH was today fined £72,000 for a health and safety breach which cost a forklift truck worker his life.

Vincent Whittington, 58, of Marchwood Close, Wollaton, was crushed by a lintel which fell when the mast on his forklift hit the top of a door frame.

Nottingham Crown Court had heard that the company could have taken steps that would had avoided such an accident at its warehouse in Eastwood in September 2007.

The court heard no-one would ever know why the father-of-four, who had worked for Raleigh for about 30 years, did not lower his forks and bring the mast down to go through the doorway.

As well as the fine, Judge John Milmo QC made an order that Raleigh pay £40,000 of the prosecution's costs.

The judge said: "The level of the fine is not intended in any way to be a measure of the value of human life, that would be impossible."

Raleigh has admitted failing to ensure the health, safety and welfare of its employees – including Mr Whittington – in connection with the use of lift trucks in its warehouse at Eastwood from July 1, 2003, to September 28, 2007.

The company which has been trading since 1887, relocated to the Eastwood site at the beginning of 2003.

Jonathan Salmon, prosecuting, said the trucks had a maximum speed of 12-and-a-half kilometres an hour.

"There is no dispute that the person concerned, Mr Whittington, was a man who had been trained to drive forklift trucks and had received training by Raleigh and had passed that training. That training included not to drive with your forks up."

A lift truck had collided with another doorway in November 2003, which led the company to make improvements and raise that door's height.

Mr Salmon said: "By November 2003 Raleigh were aware of the potential for there to be impact damage of some severity between the doorway opening and the road trucks in their operation."

The height of the doorway Mr Whittington hit was only raised a small amount because of electrical distribution boards above the door.

The company was putting it off until further refurbishment of the premises, which would have involved the removal or relocation of the electrical boards, the court heard.

The company has since made changes to doorways and ensured lift trucks have an alarm to alert the driver if the forks are raised.

Employees are warned about driving around with the forks raised on a forklift in a DVD, as well as having training and going on regular refresher courses.