A quarry company has been fined over £1m after a 26-year-old worker was fatally crushed by machinery while on its site.

Tarmac Aggregates Limited, part of Tarmac Group was fined £1,275,000 after pleading guilty to two health and safety offences.

Luke Branston was working at Mountsorrel Quarry, operated by the company, in Leicestershire when he was killed by machinery in June 2017.

Mr Branston was repairing a feed hopper at the site when the conveyor he was standing on was “inadvertently switched on”, causing him to become trapped and fatally crushing him, the health and safety executive (HSE) said.

The HSE said that Mr Branston, from the Leicester village of Ratcliffe on the Wreake, was working as a contractor on behalf of Branston Site Services Limited to mend the piece of equipment.

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Tarmac Aggregates Ltd had failed to ensure the feed hopper had been isolated, and that the conveyor’s test button was inoperative, an investigation found.

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The company pleaded guilty to failing to ensure it had protected workers from risks under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

As well as the fine, the firm was ordered to pay £200,000 in costs and a victim surcharge of £170.

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‘A missing link in my life’

Mr Branston’s family paid tribute to the racing enthusiast – a hobby that took him “all over the country”.

Speaking about his son’s passion, father Kevin Branston said: “Luke was the youngest child of my four children. Luke is like a missing link in my life – at work and more, as we loved going stock car racing as a family every weekend.

“Luke’s racing took him all over the country. Every bit of spare time he had was spent in the workshop fixing his cars with his brother Micky.

“I go in the workshop now and find myself just sitting there getting upset, looking at his race car, thinking ‘why him?’

“Sometimes I feel guilty for still being here when Luke’s not. I miss him all the time.”

The family had to sell Luke Branston’s house to help with the “money pressure”.

“The loss of Luke’s house hurt a lot, it was as if I was losing a memory,” Kevin Branston said.

His mother, Sharon Branston, added: “I still have hard days and cry over silly things. I still have Luke’s ashes at home as I can’t bear the thought of leaving him.

“Every day I think about Luke and wish he was here still, but I only have memories and photos, that’s all we have left.”

Sky News has contacted Tarmac Aggregates Ltd for comment.

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