SHOCK AT FREAK DEATH OF FATHER
by Tony Gardner
A FREAK gust of wind ripped a gate off its hinges and killed a lorry driver as he made a delivery to a Wakefield farm.
Nicholas Dalton, 52, a father-of-three disabled children, was delivering meat to Blacker Hall Farm, Branch Road, Calder Grove, at 10pm last Friday when tragedy struck.
Edward Garthwaite, 25, who runs the farm business with his father John, 52, said: "The whole family is absolutely devastated. It has affected everyone really badly.
"We have taken it badly because it was such a freak accident."
He added: "He was a good friend of ours and helped us out when we were busy."
Mr Dalton s 49-year-old wife Desrie, of Skelmanthorpe, near Denby Dale, said: "Nicholas was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"He is a wholesale butcher but, with it being Christmas, had to deliver meat to the farm. He was such a well-liked man. So many people have been phoning me up."
Their eldest son, 29-year-old James, was born with a serious heart condition. He was not expected to survive and underwent pioneering heart surgery as a baby. He also suffered brain damage.
The couple s other son, 28-year-old Mathew, lives with other disabled people in Huddersfield while their daughter Bethan, 16, lives at home and attends a school for disabled children in Barnsley.
Health and Safety Executive officials have been to the scene of the tragedy, which is being treated as an industrial accident.
An inquest into the death opened in Wakefield on Wednesday.
Coroner s officer Anthony Lancaster told the hearing Blacker Hall Farm was not open to the public at the time.
He said: "The metal gate became detached from its fixture and travelled through the window.
"The gate hit Mr Dalton with a great degree of force and caused severe injuries to the chest."
Emergency services were called but Mr Dalton was pronounced dead at the scene.
Coroner David Hinchliff adjourned the inquest to allow for further inquiries.
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Weather for Wakefield
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
