Farm worker Ryan David Lewis crushed by trailer, inquest hears

A worker was crushed by a trailer while helping to move cattle at a dairy farm, an inquest heard.

Ryan David Lewis, 61, suffered multiple injuries at Boncath, Pembrokeshire, in November 2017.

Cattle had been loaded on to a tractor-drawn trailer and Mr Lewis was injured as it passed.

The jury inquest returned a verdict of accidental death at the hearing at County Hall, Haverfordwest.

Tractor driver Gregorz Bunko said he could not see Mr Lewis was in a gap between the trailer and a gatepost.

The inquest was told Mr Lewis, from nearby Clydey, Llanfyrnach, had worked on Glyneithinog Farm - also known as Caws Cenarth - for four years and had regularly helped move cattle by trailer between farm holdings.

Thomas Harris, managing director of Ffosificer which operated Glyneithinog Farm, said that he, his wife, Mr Lewis and Mr Bunko had been planning to take 16 cattle to another holding using a large tractor-drawn trailer and a smaller trailer.

Interpreter

The larger trailer was reversed into an alleyway and 14 cattle loaded.

It then started to drive from the alleyway and Mr Lewis, who had moved into the gap, was crushed as the gap narrowed.

He died later in Glangwili General Hospital, Carmarthenshire, with the cause of death given as blunt injury trauma and multiple injuries.

Mr Bunko, giving evidence through a Polish interpreter, explained it was a job done that had been done many times before.

He said he could not see that Mr Lewis was in the gap between the trailer and gatepost.

Before sending the jury out to consider its verdict, Pembrokeshire coroner Mark Layton outlined expert evidence that said it was perfectly reasonable for the farm to have operated such a system.