The exemption of mobile cranes from requiring roadworthiness tests is under scrutiny after a mother and her two daughters were killed in a car crash caused by oil on the road that had leaked from a crane.

Whether cranes are two-axle 30-tonners or nine-axle 1,000-tonne capacity monsters, there is no legal requirement in the UK for them to have any kind of roadworthiness inspection or MoT check. Even the smallest motor car must be independently certified as roadworthy every year once it reaches three yeasr old. There is no such requirement for mobile cranes even if they are 20 or 30 years old.

Ann Copeland, 45, and her daughters Ciara, 7, and Niamh, 10, from Johnshaven, died after their car skidded on the A92 in Aberdeenshire in January 2008.

At the fatal accident inquiry last week Sheriff Kenneth Stewart said that her car had most likely skidded on hydraulic oil that had leaked from a crane onto the road.

He recommended that MoTs for mobile cranes now become a legal requirement.

Widower Barry Copeland has written to the Health & Safety Executive asking what action it plans to take in the light of the inquiry findings. The HSE said that it would give the matter “careful consideration”.

• Click here to return to the previous page
• Subscribe to our free construction newsletters