Discount retailer Poundstretcher has been fined £50,000 for a health and safety breach after one of its employees lost all his toes on one foot in an accident at their distribution centre in Huddersfield.

Leeds Crown Court heard Antoni Borek, 62, from Poland, was working in their 300,000 square feet warehouse on the Trident Business Park in Deighton on March 11 last year when a fork lift truck driver ran over his right foot.

Mr Borek had got out of the truck he had been driving, to retrieve some items from the shelves prior to the accident.

He was wearing protective shoes but the weight of the pallet truck “turned the metal toe cap on his shoe into a blade shearing off five toes,” Miles Barker prosecuting told the court.

The company had a safety system which required that when approaching a crossroads or when there was a pedestrian in the aisle a driver must stop two bays away, sound his horn three times and get consent from that person before proceeding.

But the driver involved explained although he had seen Mr Borek at the side of the aisle he thought it was safe to proceed and had looked down for a second at his watch to check the time and did not see him begin to cross the aisle.

The huge Poundstretcher depot in Leeds Road, Deighton

Mr Barker said while the accident was due to an individual’s error the company had failed to ensure their safety system was being adequately implemented and enforced allowing an “ethos to develop where employees ignored the safe system of working.”

The company had also not supplied Mr Borek with protective footwear or checked that his own shoes were adequate but it was not suggested that would have made a difference in this case.

Simon Bickler QC representing the company said there was an adequate safety system in place but it was accepted there had been a failure to police them on the floor, making sure that people understood the importance of compliance.

“Now there is zero tolerance of any breaches.”

The company admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act and in addition to the fine was ordered to pay £8,138.88 costs.

The Recorder of Leeds Judge Peter Collier QC said the injury had been “profoundly life changing” for Mr Borek.

“He was looking forward to retiring but says after the accident he has felt like a prisoner in his own home.”

In a victim personal statement he described not being able to go out for a walk or play football with his grandchildren.He was in a lot of pain and had been told by doctors that would continue for for approximately two years. Although he may drive again it will not be for several years.

At that time he was on sick leave and having to travel by expensive taxis borrowing from his son for essentials. He is still employed by Poundstretcher who have accepted civil liability in his case.

The judge said the company’s fault was allowing an atmosphere to develop where their safety police was “not kept uppermost in the minds of its employees and was not enforced.”

“The prosecution accept that since the accident there has been a change in the company’s approach and that what was wrong has been put right.

“I accept that this was a case of a lackadaisical approach by the management rather than one of making money by cutting corners.”

“Nevertheless the risk of injury is as great for whichever reason the company permits the development of the ethos that they did here.”

In October Poundstretcher was fined £30,000 after a rodent infestation at its distribution centre in Deighton.