South Yorkshire Times, August 25th, 1951
Verdict on Wath Builder
That a lorry got out of control through the failure of the braking system was the opinion expressed at the Sheffield inquest of 33 years old Eric Watson, master builder, of Wetmoor Lane Wath-on-Dearne, who was killed when his lorry ran away down Grenville Road, Sheffield and crashed into a disused building in St. Mary’s Road.
Police-Sergeant Clifford Austin said an examination of the lorry showed that the foot brake was of a hydraulic type. The offside front lining was badly worn and had allowed fluid to escape. The rear-wheel linings had been recently renewed, and the nearside front lining was half worn. As a result of the fluid escaping the whole braking system was affected. He would have expected the hand brake to have held the lorry, which was loaded with coal, before it turned out of City Road into Grenville Road. He thought the lorry had been moderately maintained, but instead of being taken off the road for complete overhaul, it had been done piecemeal. After the vehicle of that type had done 10,000 miles it should be taken off the road for complete overhaul every 4,000 miles.
The owner of the lorry, William Cooper, haulage contractor of Norton Road, Wath-on-Dearne, said the vehicle was taken off the road for overhaul last year. He thought it was in fairly good shape. Watson, who had been driving the lorry for three weeks, had reported no defect. He made repairs to his lorries from his own experience rather than from handbooks
Witness added: “This particular lorry was my favourite one I have driven it more than anyone else and, to my way of thinking, it was in fairly good shape.” He said the front wheels had been relined recently.
The coroner, (Mr. A. P. Lockwood) said, if a vehicle developed a fault, which no one suspected, but which might have been discovered in a maintenance examination, that could never amount to criminal negligence.
The jury returned a verdict of “Accident death.”