West Mayo retail company fined €125,000 following pedestrian's death in car park

A WEST Mayo retail company was fined a total of €125,000 after pleading guilty to breaching statutory health and safety obligations following the death of a woman in Westport who died after she was hit by a delivery lorry in the supermarket carpark.

Kavanagh Retailing Unlimited Company with an address at Shop Street, Westport appeared before Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court this afternoon (Friday) where they were fined a total of €125,000 for breaching the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act following an investigation into the death of Westport woman Maureen Hopkins on June 6, 2024 in the SuperValu carpark in Westport.

The breaches under the Act include failing to ensure adequate traffic management, and safety measures for vehicles and pedestrians in the car park. The fifth count determined that the company failed to take the necessary steps to implement measures to improve the safety, health and welfare of employees after a risk assessment that was carried out.

The company was represented in court by Noel Kavanagh, the managing director of the company and by Eamon Donnelly, the financial director.

Judge Eoin Garavan was informed during the sentencing hearing that following an investigation by the Health and Safety Authority, they found that there was no traffic management plan for the Super Valu carpark.

The investigation also found there were no designated pedestrian walkways present, no designated pedestrian crossing points present, pedestrian and moving vehicles shared the safe circulation areas, there was no dedicated loading and unloading area and delivery vehicles carrying out loading activities occupied areas used by customer traffic. A traffic attendant was also not on duty on the day of the fatality.

The court also heard that a risk assessment of the car park was taken out by the company in 2020 which highlighted the hazards associated with it but no works were carried out until after the death of Mrs Hopkins in 2024.

Following the fatality, work was carried out on the car park which included installing a designated loading area resulting in the removal of six parking spaces. Deliveries involving heavy goods vehicles and articulated trucks are now carried out before 8am and safety rules for suppliers have been developed and designated pedestrian walkways and crossings have been allocated.

In March, lorry driver Mihail Tanasevici (43) of Woodford Road, Clondalkin, Dublin was sentenced to five months in prison after pleading guilty to careless driving causing the death of Maureen Hopkins on June 6, 2024 in the SuperValu carpark in Westport.

The sentencing in Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court heard that Mrs Hopkins, of Rosmoney, Carrowholly, Westport had parked her car in SuperValu carpark and approached the back entrance to the shop.

Mr Tanasevici had arrived in his white Mercedes rigid truck truck after travelling from Dublin to a warehouse in Ballina and was dropping off product. He was reversing his truck into the SuperValu carpark from the public road when he realised he had to let a car out of a parking space. He moved the truck backward to allow this to occur. The same thing occurred again with another car and as he moved forward he hit Mrs Hopkins with the left front side of the vehicle.

In victim impact statements, George Darcy, brother of Mrs Hopkins and her daughter Sinéad Hopkins were both critical that safety procedures were not carried out on the car park before June 6, 2024 despite the company knowing about the associated risks.

Mr Brendan McDonagh, counsel for Kavanagh Retailing Unlimited Company said his clients wished to offer their condolences to the Hopkins family and accepted their responsibilities from an early stage.

He said that the supermarket had been operating in Westport for 40 years without an incident in the car park but accepted that one death was one too many.

Mr McDonagh told Judge Garavan that land was acquired at the cost of €740,000 by the company to expand the car park and ensure there was no repeat of the tragedy which occurred.

In sentencing the company, Judge Garavan said that a combination of factors had occurred which resulted in the death of Mrs Hopkins. The primary factor he said was the manner of the driving but the layout of the car park was a contributing factor and it was clear it was not fit for purpose.

He added that the fact the company had not acted on a risk assessment was the most egregious matter and this was an accident waiting to happen.

Judge Garavan said that the company did act quickly after the accident but by this time the horse had bolted. He did give credit for the manner they met the case and the signed plea was indicated from an early stage.

Judge Garavan fined the company €75,000 for failing to take the necessary steps to implement measures to improve the safety, health and welfare of employees after a risk assessment that was carried out.

He also fined them €25,000 each for two of the other breaches which related to the loss of life while the remaining two were taken into consideration.

He expressed his condolences to Mrs Hopkins' husband Chris and to her children and grandchildren and her family and commented it was unfortunate that it took her death to ensure work was carried out on the car park and make it safer for other customers.