Tata Motors owned Jaguar Land Rover has been fined £900,000 (INR 7,67,41,277) by the Birmingham Crown Court after a worker at the company’s Solihull plant in the UK lost his leg in an accident. It was in February 2015, that Mark Widnall, 59, from Coventry, had to have his right leg amputated from above the knee when he met with an accident at the JLR Solihull plant.
Widnall now wears a prosthetic leg and has moved into to his mother’s house following the accident, stating that it has robbed him of his independence. Widnall was crushed between two vehicles and it was just luck that saved him from sure death as the delivery driver lost control of his vehicle and crashed into another car at the company plant.
PM Narendra Modi on a visit to the Solihull plant back in 2015.JLR has been blamed for breach of health and safety regulations that put this worker through this ordeal which caused his right leg to be amputated. Health and Safety Executive (HSE), who was present at the hearing found that the company had failed to take adequate precautions to ensure that the driver of the Range Rover was familiar with the procedures while the company had also failed to separate workers on the production line which also caused minor injuries to two other workers.
Apart from the £900,000 which JLR will have to pay to Widnall, the company is also liable to shell out £49,868 (INR 42,19,248) in legal fees. JLR has accepted the court’s decision and continues to work in accordance with HSE stringent laid down principles to ensure protection of its workers.
Jaguar Land Rover Solihull plant is the company’s oldest plant where JLR vehicles are being manufactured. From 1948, the plant has been only producing Land Rover vehicles, while from 2015, it also started producing Jaguar (XE). Designed by the British Government, the plant employs over 10,000 people.
