Man died of head injury after fall from cherrypicker

An inquest jury has returned a verdict of accidental death after viewing CCTV footage of a freak cherrypicker accident at Cork City’s main bus depot.

The footage showed how Peter Downey, 59, from Inniscarra, Co Cork, suffered fatal injuries after he fell from a height when the cherrypicker he was operating toppled over at Bus Éireann’s Capwell garage at Summerhill South, Cork, on November 23, 2015.

Cork City Coroner’s Court was told that Mr Downey had installed two Steinbruckner bus washing machines at the depot in 2007, and had the maintenance contract for them, calling up to 15 times a year to service them. He arrived at the depot at around 1pm on November 23, 2015, to repair one of the machines. He sealed off the faulty machine, and drove a hired scissor-lift cherrypicker between the two washers to gain access to water hose pipes, which were suspended above and between the washers. The other washer remained open.