A WORKER was crushed to death under the wheels of a lorry in a tragic accident at an East Lancashire scrapyard.

Sean Gregory, 25, was fatally injured on the day before his daughter's third birthday.

He was knocked under a slow-moving flatbed truck used to carry wrecks around Alf Kyme's car dismantlers yard in Rakehead, Stacksteads, yesterday afternoon.

Police believe Mr Gregory, of Beech Street, Rawtenstall, who was married, was bending down out of sight of the lorry driver to pick something off the ground as the vehicle moved off. Officers were today waiting to speak to the driver, who has not been named. The driver, who is in his 20s and lives in Waterfoot, was left deeply upset and shocked by the accident and was under sedation last night.

Inspector Alan Frangleton, of Burnley Police, said: "Police were called to the yard at 3.55pm and found ambulance staff working on a man who was suffering from massive head injuries. They treated him at the site before he was taken to Rochdale Infirmary where, unfortunately, he died.

"Mr Gregory was in front of a flatbed lorry which had a hoist on the back of it and was used just in the scrapyard to pick up cars. The lorry was travelling forwards slowly when it was in collision with Mr Gregory. It was a tragic accident."

Mr Gregory's wife, Beverley, said today: "He was really well liked. Nobody had a bad word for him."

The couple have two children, six-year-old Andrew and Natasha, whose third birthday was today, Sean, a former pupil at Alder Grange High School, Rawtenstall, joined the scrapyard as a vehicle dismantler and mechanic in February. He was a regular at Loveclough Social Club and was a keen fisherman and golf player.

The Factory Inspectorate has been informed about the incident and the details have been reported to East Lancashire Coroner David Smith.

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