Security not asked to check barrier (From Barry And District News)

Security not asked to check barrier

THE inquest into the death of a former Barry man this week heard how a security officer was'never asked' to check the car park barrier that swung out and killed the dad-of-three.

Kenneth Farr, aged 37, of Shakespeare Avenue, Penarth, was killed by a car park barrier at Cardiff Bay Asda which swung out and went through his windscreen in May 2002.

Mr Farr, who lived on Gaen Street in Barry until 1991, was visiting the store on Ferry Road, Cardiff, with his three-year-old daughter to buy a garden shed.

The inquest was also told this week by managers of the store that they could not remember seeing a risk assessment form until the day after the incident.

The inquest jury also heard that the design of barrier that killed Mr Farr was no longer used in new store plans.

Former security employee Christopher Elliot said that he could not remember the barrier being checked regularly by staff and that he had never been asked to do that as part of his duties.

On Friday, the inquest heard evidence from the store's customer service manager, Leon Randall, and profit improvement manager Michael Mainwaring.

Mr Randall, of Bridgend, told Cardiff Coroner Mary Hassell that even though trolley porters in the car park came under his control, he understood that the barriers came under security.

He admitted closing the barriers at night on several occasions to prevent'Max Power rallies' taking place, but because of different shift teams working at the store, this was rare.

He said: "In total I was in the store for a year and I closed the barrier anywhere between six and 12 times. More likely to be six."

Both Mr Mainwaring and Mr Randall told the inquest that they could not remember ever seeing a car park risk assessment form until the day after the incident.

Asda health and safety co-ordinator Barbara Burke had told the inquest she distributed the forms to managers in early 2002.

Mr Mainwaring, who now works at Cwmbran Asda, said: "Managers in that day were issued with risk assessments. We were given a pile of them and worked through each line."

He added that he ticked each line that he thought was being carried out but added things he thought were not being carried out, like regular barrier checks.