20.06.2013

Crane MOT campaigner recognised

Barry Copeland, who lost his family in a car accident resulting from an oil spill by a mobile crane, has been awarded a certificate of merit by the UK’s Institution of Occupational Safety and Health.

The award is in recognition of the lobbying work he has been doing to have mobile cranes be subject to a regular third party road worthiness test – an MOT.
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Barry Copeland and his family pre 2008.

Copeland’s wife and two young daughters died after their car skidded on a pool of hydraulic oil deposited by a crane owned and operated by Whyte Crane Hire in January 2008 in Aberdeenshire. See Cranes in UK to be subject to MoT
see Sheriff calls for UK crane road worthiness tests

The campaign to bring cranes into line with other commercial vehicles had gained considerable momentum - strongly supported by a Member of Parliament and a Sheriff - and could well come into force sometime in the next five years or so. Although the subject recently appears to have been ‘kicked into the long grass’ pending changes to other EU rules.

Copeland said: "It's an honour, as I feel it's some kind of recognition that what I've been campaigning for is right. Every time I see a large mobile crane travelling on a road - a common occurrence, even on dual carriageways and motorways - I'm reminded how bizarre it is that they aren't required to have an MOT.”

"I just want to try to reduce the chances of the same thing happening to somebody else and hopefully make Scotland's roads a little safer in the future."