Matters that need addressing with Simon Bromley

Simon says in his statement that he was in the drum with Lee, he then got out And started the engine of the truck.

Prior to the incident

What were they doing prior to being in the drum that required the drum to be moving and then left in drive mode?

Was the drum set at fast or slow speed?

Why was the drum left in drive after this procedure?

Which one of them turned the engine off and left the drum in drive mode?

Where did Simon think Lee was?

Why did he not check where Lee was?

From the picture of the inside of the drum we can see that the concrete was broken and powdery and needed no more Kangoing.

Simon said he left Lee inside the drum this must have meant that if both of them were in the drum they both would have had Kango's or at least one Kango and one shovel. If not what were they doing in the drum together?

What was the reason for starting the truck?

What was the next job he and Lee were going to do that needed the truck started?

Why was there no Kango or shovel left in the drum?

The picture indicate that the amount of concrete left in the drum was minimal and showed that the gunning out job was finished.

So why would Lee need to stay in the drum when Simon moved it?

Why did Simon need to move the drum at all if the job was done?

From other pictures taken of the outside of the truck you can see two mounds of concrete one on each side of the truck close to the inspection holes. This shows that they had shovelled concrete out through these holes. What the pictures also showed was that there was no concrete directly underneath the truck.

The drum could not have been running for any length of time in the direction that it was set at the time of the incident because there were no amount of concrete directly underneath the truck nor were there any mounds of concrete at the back of the truck where the expelling shoot was.

From discussions with the Highmix MD and his manager they said that there is no reason to leave the drum rotating either slow or fast to get the final amount of loose concrete out of the drum through the inspection holes. The reason given was because it would only take three rotation of the drum in the expelling direction and the concrete would come out of the back as normal.

So why was the drum left in the rotation mode the time before the incident?

It could not have been emptying through the inspection holes or out of the back because there was no concrete under the truck or out of the back. They could not have been inching round the time before because it was set in constant mode then turned of at the engine/exhauster stop. The only other explanation would be that someone pushed the PTO control at the back of the truck into drive mode when the engine was off.

BUT WHY?

One thing that was not known at the meeting with the HIGHMIX Company was that the exhauster brake had a leak and this would have affected the stopping or inching process. The leak would have caused it to run on in a sort of chugging and coughing way.

One conclusion that DCI Peter Hood made to my brother Ray was that he did not accept that Lee was doing the unthinkable and gunning out through the inspection hatch as put forward by DCI Graham Ball.

My brother also felt that DCI Peter Hood was more prepared to accept that Lee's death could have been something other that an accident.