Fine demanded after fatal accident holiday worker Geert (15) with forklift in department store | Inland

Given his age and the lack of a forklift certificate, the boy from Kesteren was not allowed to drive the vehicle at all. On February 26, 2020 around 4 pm he fell from the forklift during a maneuver and landed with his head on the work floor. He died on the spot. The manager of Van der Garde’s Department Store had seen the boy pass by on the forklift truck, but did not intervene. “It happened gradually,” he told the judges in Zwolle about the fact that someone of that age was driving a forklift. The fatal accident was a blow to the company. Since then, strict care has been taken to ensure that everyone has the correct papers.

The public prosecutor hopes that something positive will result from this case of only losers. “Geert is dead,” he said of the victim, but he is not the only teenager on a forklift. “I think in a lot of companies young guys drive around on a forklift. And I hope those companies will start thinking about this.” He noticed that in a large company like this the papers were not in order at the time of the fatal accident.

The victim’s father is not resentful of the department store. “We lose our son, but the company did not want this either.”

The court’s verdict is due on October 7.

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