A MAINTENANCE man was injured after becoming trapped underneath a caravan at a holiday park. 

Park Resorts Ltd, which runs Coopers Beach Holiday Park, in East Mersea, admitted breaching health and safety law after the 67-year-old man was caught under a mobile home being taken to a new pitch.

It happened as the employee was trying to free a caravan leg which had become stuck, while it was being prepared to move.

The caravan was quickly moved off the man and he was not seriously injured as a result of the incident, on January 29 last year. 

But the firm, now part of Parkdean Resorts, admitted breaching regulations during a hearing at Colchester Magistrates' Court.

It means the company failed to follow its own safe system of working because the caravan was being moved from one site to another using untrained employees.

Inadequate paperwork had also been filed.

The case was brought by Colchester Council

Magistrates adjourned sentencing until December. 

Tina Bourne, Colchester Council communities boss, said: “This could so easily have been a fatal accident, and serves as a dreadful reminder that laws which enforce health and safety standards exist for good reason and that flouting them can have serious, sometimes even tragic, consequences.

“Our health and safety officers take a dim view of those who fail to put safety first, matching this commitment with an excellent track-record of successfully prosecuting individuals and organisations whose actions, or inactions, lead to injury or endanger life.”

A Coopers Beach Holiday Park spokesperson said: “We regret the circumstances that led to this but are unable to comment further until the legal process is completed.”