Contractors Miller and PJ Carey have been handed heavy fines following the death of a worker in 2003.

Miller Construction was fined a total of £127,000 and PJ Carey £117,000 for an incident when employee Justin Taylor was fatally struck by a dumper truck on the Fremlin Walk development in Maidstone on 20 June 2003.

Two individuals received separate fines for their part in the accident. Sean Mongan was fined £2,500 and Barry Pollen £1,000.

The accident occurred after the brakes failed on a dumper truck, causing it to run out of control down a slope before striking Taylor.

Peter Collingwood, an inspector at the Health and Safety Executive, said: “The companies involved failed to carry out even the most basic checks on the driver’s ability to safely operate a dumper.”

Separately, Space 4, a subsidiary of Persimmon Homes, was fined a total of £125,000 after the death of an employee, Philip Macken, on a site in the West Midlands in December 2001.

Space 4 pleaded guilty at Birmingham Crown Court to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act, and was fined £65,000 and ordered to pay £60,000 costs.