Frederick Gladney Jones, 51, of Lyme Grove, Buckley, was pronounced dead at the scene after he was run over by a Komatsu caterpillar crawler machine at the West Pennine Recycling Unit, on Spencer Industrial Estate, Buckley, in December last year.

An inquest at Flint Coroner's Court yesterday heard that the machine, used for transporting rubbish and material to be recycled, was being driven by a colleague, Jaroslav Somerfeld who did not see yard supervisor Mr Jones when he began to reverse it.

Rhys Williams, a transfer station assistant at the recycling unit who witnessed the accident, told the inquest: "Fred came over to talk to me and then said that he was just going to go and speak to Jaroslav.

"I saw him walk towards the machine, then afterwards saw Jaroslav running over and he shouted 'call an ambulance'.

"I saw Fred lying on the floor behind the machine and he was shaking.

"He seemed to be struggling to breathe and appeared to be shocked."

A statement read out by Polish interpreter Monika Thomas, on behalf of Mr Somerfeld, said: "When I began to reverse the machine, I knew straight away that something was not right.

"I stopped and got out of the machine and saw Fred lying on the floor so I shouted for help. I always got on very well with Fred and we never had any problems with him at all."

Mr Williams added: "Fred was sound. He was always up for a laugh and everyone got on well with him, the managers and the lads, and seemed to like him best out of everyone."

Mr Jones, known to work colleagues as Fred but to his family as Gladney, was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics at about 4.55pm on Friday, December 14 last year.

A post-mortem carried out at Wrexham Maelor Hospital by pathologist Pauline Dowling determined the cause of death to be asphyxia, due to crush injuries sustained in the incident.

Mr Jones was married to wife Sandra for 25 years, and had two daughters, Rhian, 24 and Katherine, 21, and a grandson, Charlie, now aged one, described by Mrs Jones as the 'apple of his grandad's eye'.

Speaking at the inquest, Mrs Jones said: "Gladney loved his job.

"He was always first in in the morning and the last to lock up at night.

"He was very popular and very highly regarded by everyone at work."

Tributes flooded in for Mr Jones via our website immediately following his death last year, from family, friends and colleagues.

Speaking to the Leader at the time, Mrs Jones said: "Myself, Rhian, Gareth (Rhian's husband), Katherine, Adam (Katherine's husband) and Charlie would like to express our sincere thanks to all relatives, friends and workmates who have offered their support.

"Our whole family is absolutely devastated – it was such a shock to us and we love and miss him so much."

After hearing evidence at the inquest, a jury of seven men and two women returned a unanimous verdict of accidental death.

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