A NEWTON Valence farm manager has been prosecuted after he was caught on camera breaking health-and-safety rules by using the grain bucket on a telehandler to lift colleagues up to a barn roof.

The dangerous practices of Peter Kirby, 62, of Newton Valence Farm, near Selborne, were spotted and photographed by a concerned passer by on February 14, then passed to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

The incident was investigated and Mr Kirby appeared at Aldershot Magistrates Court on Thursday, April 4, charged with breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

The court was told that Mr Kirby, a farmer for more than 40 years, had put the two men at risk of injury or even death, by using the bucket to raise them to work on the gable end of a barn.

Mr Kirby, of Woodside, Newton Valence Farm, was fined £330 and ordered to pay £1,757 in costs after admitting a breach of Section 7(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

For full story, see this week's Bordon Herald.