Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Binman narrowly escapes being ‘crushed to death’ after he is dragged into refuse lorry at work

City council launches investigation after video reveals dangerous accident

Conrad Duncan
Wednesday 08 January 2020 18:59 GMT
Comments
Binman dragged into rubbish truck narrowly escapes death

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A binman narrowly escaped being “crushed to death” after he was dragged into a refuse lorry while working in Birmingham.

Video has emerged of the dramatic incident, in which the man’s clothes appear to become caught on the lifting mechanism of the vehicle before he is pulled into the back of the lorry.

He escaped injury when a colleague spotted the accident and rushed over to press a button to stop the vehicle.

The footage was sent to BirminghamLive by a man, who has chosen to be anonymous, with links to bin collection services in the city.

“I was shocked when I saw this. The binman is literally a second away from being crushed to death,” the man said.

“If his colleague hadn't seen what happened and rushed to his aid he would probably be dead,” he added.

Birmingham City Council has said it is currently investigating the incident.

The man who released the video has said he believes the accident took place at the end of October last year but it is unclear where exactly the incident was filmed.

Health and safety is of paramount importance to us for both our employees and the residents they serve when going about their daily duties,” a spokesperson for the council said.

“We are currently investigating what led to this alleged incident and are therefore unable to comment on specific details.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in