Mexborough & Swinton Times – Friday 07 April 1933
Denaby Accident
Tragedy of Broken Rules
Official’s Son Killed
Mr. W. H. Cartile and a jury inquired at the Fullerton Hospital, Denaby Main, on Tuesday, into the death of Harold Dunhill Jeffcote (19), apprentice electrician, Cadeby Villas, Denaby, who was pinned between the buffers of some trucks while crossing a wagon road at Cadeby Colliery on Monday. Jeffcote was the son of Joseph Wm.Dunhill Jeffcote, assistant under-manager at the colliery, who gave evidence of identification.
“Sneaking Off.”
Sydney Boldan, another apprentice electrician, of 50, Ravenfield Street, Denaby, who was working with Jeffcote on the morning shift on Monday, said they were engaged on the screens.
At 10.40 they went down the wagon road towards a cabin there to “have five minutes.” They stayed about that space of time, then set off to cross the wagon road to reach the workshop for their next job. Some tracks stood on the road but witness saw no locomotive and heard no whistle. There was a space of about two feet six inches between some of the wagons, and Jeffcote was about to cross this space. He had got one over the rail when the wagons were pushed back and he was pinned between the buffers. “I grasped his arm in an effort to pull him out, but it was no use. The ‘loco’ slacked off and he fell out. I rolled him on to the ground.” A wagon lowerer dashed out of the cabin on hearing Jeffcote scream, and he attended to Jeffcote while witness went for the foreman.
The Coroner: Are you in order going to this cabin to rest?—No, we had no right there at all. You were just sneaking a few minutes off, eh ?—Yes.
Had you any right to cross the lines?—No.
If you had wanted to get from the screens to the workshop, your proper route was by the overhead bridge?—That is the correct way to go, yes.
“Good-Bye.”
Thomas Roland Caddick, 4b, Adwick Road, Mexboro’, the shunter engaged at the time, said there was a apace of eight feet between six wagons and two more, then another space of two feet and two more wagons. Usually he “hooked on” and dropped the wagons down to the engine. On this occasion they were too stiff and, after going to the front of the wagons to see all was clear, in accordance with practice, he signalled the driver to push back. When they had moved roughly four or five wagon lengths he heard a shout, and on turning saw the lad fall out from between the wagons. He ran to him and heard him say, “Good-bye, good-bye.”
He could not remember whether the driver whistled before moving or not. There were always whistles going about that place. Before he signalled for the engine to push back he went up to the space through which Jeffcote subsequently tried to pass and looked through to the other side of the road. He did not see anyone about.
The Coroner: Would it have been better for you to have gone through the space to make sure you could have only a restricteed vision merely looking through the space from this side:—No, because at any time these wagons might have been moved and pinned me.
In reply to Mr. P. L. Collinson (H.M. Inspector), Caddick said anyone would be able to see the “loco” from the cabin, though there was a bend in the road.
Driver’s Lapse.
Charles Percy Grindle, 59 Church Street, Conisboro’, the driver of the locomotive, said he saw the shunter go up the line of wagons and got his signal to push back.
The Coroner: Did you sound your whistle? —I don’t think I did.
It is your duty to do so, isn’t ? You see a copy of the regulations, don’t you?—Yes, but you don’t want to be blowing every time you move. The shunter was at one side of the wagons, and there was no one at the other side to see whether anyone was about or not.
What opportunity had anyone on that side of knowing you were going to move?—l should have thought no one would have wanted to go across.
Why didn’t you blow your whistle on this occasion?—I must have forgotten for the moment. We wanted these wagons up so as not to stop the belt.
Do you mean to tell me you were in too much of a hurry to blow your whistle?—No, but we didn’t want to keep the pit standing.
That is why you forgot?—Yes. You can’t always remember.
But you are bound to, on a job like this. That is what you are there for, isn’t it?— Yes.
You can’t afford to make mistakes, can you?—No.
It is possible that if you had whistled this boy would not have been killed?—Yes, it is possible.
Then this was a serious lapse on your part, wasn’t it?
There was no reply.
“I Am Going.”
Charles Edward Goddard, 54, Balby Street, Denaby, the wagon lowerer, said he had to go to the cabin to speak to the chargeman on a matter concerning the work, and met the two youths leaving the cabin. He thought they were making down the road and right round the end of the wagons, which anybody usually did who had to cross. While in the cabin he heard a bump and a shout and ran out to see the youth falling from between the wagons. He ran and picked him up. Jeffcote said, “I am going. Goodbye. Fetch father and mother.”
Had he known the youths intended to cross between the wagons he would have stopped them. He had had occasion previously to stop people crossing between wagons.
The Coroner: It is a very dangerous practice, isn’t it?—Yes.
In reply to Mr. Collinson, Goddard said it was possible to see the locomotive from the cabin.
Dr. Ford said he saw Jeffcote soon after 11 a.m. on Monday, shortly after his admission to the hospital. He was dead and must have died very soon after the accident. There were no superficial injuries: death was due to shock and severe internal injuries.
Broken Rules.
Mr. Carlile said the youths had no right to be where they were, nor to cross the line in the way they did. Had they gone the proper way from the one place where they were working to the other, that accident would certainly not have happened. But apart from that, as they did cross the line, it appeared that driver did not found his whistle and should have done so. It was only common sense that that regulation should be carried out, for there might be men working there who had properly to cross the line. The driver frankly admitted that in the hurry of the moment be forgot to sound his whistle. The shunter seemed to have done his duty and could not have crossed between the wagons without running a risk himself.
The jury returned a verdict of “Accidental death. Expressing the deep sympathy of the Company, Mr. W. Still, manager of the Colliery, said deceased was a very promising young fellow. The jury and Coroner associated themselves with the condolences.