A CRANE company has been fined just £4,500 after a construction foreman died.

Richard Mark Thornton, 46, of Longridge, died instantly after being struck by a six-ton metal beam which fell after the crane tipped over at Wavertree Technology Park in 2007.

A Liverpool Crown Court judge said Mr Thornton’s death was “wholly avoidable” if all the appropriate steps were taken.

But Judge Nigel Gilmour, QC, said he was unable to impose an appropriate fine of £300,000 on crane company Bryn Thomas Crane Hire Ltd because it had now gone into administration with massive debts.

He fined the firm just £4,500.

Crane driver Frederick Scott, of Flatt Lane, Ellesmere Port, was fined £2,500.

The judge said inexperienced Scott, 46, was not trained properly and had shown a “high degree of incompetence”.

But he said he was unable to impose a higher fine because of Scott’s limited finances.