Thursday, October 8, 2009

Society failed Raymond Pickering badly.











Dear All

Homeless people do a thing called ‘skipping’ were they go to sleep in bins to get out of the cold and rain.

Unfortunately there are risks associated with such practice.

A homeless man has been found dead at a waste depot in Nottingham had been crushed to death in a dustcart after falling asleep in a wheelie bin.

Raymond Pickering, 54, from Ilkeston, Derbyshire, was discovered at workmen at the Biffa site in Colwick.

He apparently had been sleeping rough in a large commercial bin when the bin men on their normal round emptied him into a dustcart.

A verdict of accidental death has been recorded.

Assistant deputy coroner for Nottinghamshire, Ms Casey said;

"Mr Pickering certainly seems to have taken refuge in bins and, in this case, one of the bins was collected in the usual way before its contents were put into the back of a truck, so it is quite likely that he was crushed to death.
"It is very tragic and very sad that Mr Pickering should end his life in this way."

The inquest was told that bin men don’t look inside bins for health and safety reasons before they are emptied.

Kevin Storrs of Shanks Waste Solutions; said the general practice by bin men is to give the bins a shake in case there are any rats inside.

The inquest into the death of Mr Pickering was told that he would regularly look for food in bins and shelter in them when he did not have a place to stay for the night.

Yet again, we see the results of broken Britain in its raw form, another tragic death of a man who society had completely failed.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

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