Tyre firm fined £600,000 after 21-year-old crushed to death when truck he was repairing slipped off its jack

Published 4 November 2026, 14:31

• Niall Fawcett had held his roadside tyre licence for under four months with no supervision, Health and Safety Executive investigators found.
• Mother Sharon Fawcett said her son was saving for a first home with partner Megan: 'My son never came home.'
• Halford Commercial Fleet Services never told staff when a truck should be towed away rather than repaired on the roadside.

A commercial tyre company has been fined £600,000 after a 21-year-old employee was crushed to death by a truck he was working beneath at the roadside, with investigators finding he had been given no supervision despite holding his licence for less than four months.

Niall Fawcett died on 2 August 2024 after being dispatched to fit a new tyre on a low-profile truck that had suffered a blowout, on the slip road at junction seven of the M56 motorway near Bowdon, Cheshire.

The vehicle fell on him after coming free from the bottle jack — a small hydraulic device designed to lift vehicles — resulting in fatal injuries to his head, the Health and Safety Executive reported.

Halford Commercial Fleet Services Limited, formerly known as Lodge Tyre Company Limited, of Redditch, Worcestershire, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

The company was fined £600,000 and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £200 and £24,203 in costs at Warrington Magistrates' Court on 3 November 2026.

The HSE investigation concluded that the company had not carried out an adequate risk assessment for changing a burst tyre on a low-loader at the side of the road.

Critically, staff were never told when a truck should be towed away for recovery rather than repaired at the scene, according to the HSE press release.

Fawcett had not held his licence to carry out roadside work on commercial tyres prior to joining the company — an employer he had been with for fewer than four months at the time of his death.

Yet no monitoring or supervision had been put in place to check that he was carrying out his work safely.

HSE Principal Inspector Laura Royales said: "This case should serve to highlight to employers the importance of properly assessing the risks to which their workers are exposed and providing the right information and instructions, supplemented by adequate monitoring and supervision arrangements, to ensure that they can and do work safely."

She added: "Our thoughts remain with Niall's family as they continue to come to terms with their tragic loss."

Niall's mother, Sharon Fawcett, described her son's death in a victim personal statement.

"Niall was only 21 years old when he died. He had his whole life ahead of him. He was planning to marry the following year and he and Megan were saving for a deposit on their first home together and talking about starting a family," she said.

Sharon continued: "Niall was building for a life he was excited for and this was taken from him in an instant. Niall went to work that day and should have been safe, supported and protected. Instead, my son never came home."

Key principles set out in the HSE's guidance document on health and safety in motor vehicle repair and associated industries include making certain that workers have demonstrated competence before undertaking tasks alone at the roadside, alongside establishing safe working systems.

HSE enforcement lawyer Matthew Reynolds and paralegal officer Benjamin Stobbart led the prosecution, with the investigation supported by Visiting Officer Natty Heath.