A BUILDING worker died in a freak accident in a mini-digger which he was not qualified to operate, an inquest heard.

Lance Taylor was leaning out of the front window of the digger when he nudged a lever, which jolted the machine's arm, or boom, backwards hitting his head and causing fatal injuries.

A jury returned a verdict of accidental death on Mr Taylor, 23, who died while working on the Bellway Homes new housing development at Abbeymead, Gloucester, on February 11, 2005.

On that day, Mr Taylor, of Avon Way, Thornbury, had been using a dumper truck to transport topsoil around on the site.

He was killed while he was in one of the mini-diggers which were being used on site and which he was not qualified to operate, the inquest was told.

Mr Taylor, like many of his fellow workers at Macob South West Ltd, did not have the qualifications to operate all the machinery on the site, the hearing was told.

He had leaned out of the digger's cab window to throw some keys to a colleague when the digger arm suddenly came back and crushed him.

Adrian Griffiths, a groundworker who was working in a team with Mr Taylor and a third man on February 11, said he (Griffiths) had no qualifications or tickets to operate any of the plant equipment.

A digger was being used near the houses to spread the soil and another digger was used to load the soil into the dumper at another area.

John Moutrie, a Health and Safety Executive inspector, said his investigations revealed that the digger arm was near the top of the cab at the time of the accident - rather than with the bucket resting on the ground - which meant it would travel very quickly if operated.

The inspector said that when Mr Taylor leaned through the front window with the keys, he made contact with the operating lever and the boom moved back very quickly.

Pathologist Dr Jeremy Uff, who carried out a post mortem examination, said Mr Taylor had died of a severe head injury and that death was "almost instantaneous".

After summarising the case to the jury, Gloucestershire coroner Alan Crickmore sent them out to consider the verdict, which they returned an hour-and-a-half later.

They returned a verdict of accidental death and said that Mr Taylor had been operating a mini digger on February 11, 2005, and there was evidence that the keys were readily available to all workers - not dependent on qualifications.

He was leaning out of the window, when the bucket arm came backwards and trapped him, they said.

No one from Macob South West Ltd was available for comment after the hearing.