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This was another tragedy of a driver doing his job. A tragic loss.
The driver was Mervyn Allen, he was either from Crossgates in Powys,or as the paper say,s Gloucester,he has family in Mid Wales. A JCB he was delivering caught the 66,000 volt cables.
Condolences to his family.
Very sad indeed.Went out to do a days work and never went home.Condolences to the family.
A company local to myself experienced the same sort of thing a few years ago though thankfully the driver survived.
He was driving a concrete mixer with far reach conveyor,which he caught on power lines whilst trying to get into position.
He was badly burnt and injured but as i said,did live to tell the tale.
Condolences to his family & friends 
Electrocuted lorry driver named
A man who died when a lorry touched overhead power lines at the site of an agricultural show has been named.
Edward Mervyn Allen, 59, of Bream, Lydney, Gloucestershire, died at the Kington Show site at Ovals Farm on the A44 in Herefordshire on Friday.
He had been driving a lorry which was delivering equipment to the site.
The coroner has been informed and an inquest was expected to be opened and adjourned this week, West Mercia Police said.
It added investigators from the force and Herefordshire Council’s environmental health team were conducting inquiries into the incident and would forward reports to the coroner.
Paramedics and an off-duty GP tried to save Mr Allen, who crews found in cardiac arrest.
Story from BBC NEWS:
news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/e … 259131.stm
Published: 2009/09/16 13:29:30 GMT
© BBC MMIX
It’s a terrible story and condolences to Edward Mervyn Allen’s family.
It’s also a reminder of how dangerous overhead electrical lines are. The newspaper reports say his load touched them but this may not necessarily be so- high tension electricity can easily arc a one-metre gap and many many lorry drivers have been killed this way before.
Firstly apologies for bumping this topic.
I thought you may like to know the outcome of this topic: Kington Horse Show organiser fined over electrocution - BBC News
I’m one of Mervyn’s sons and would just like to say thanks for the kind words.
Some details: Lived in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, but he was based in Llandrindod Wells. He was self employed and bought and sold second hand grain silo’s, moving them from farm to farm across the UK using an adapted 7.5T flat bed lorry. As part of his business he attended Agriculture shows and it was as he attended one of these that the accident occurred.
His lorry had an hydraulic steel frame (something that he built himself) that moved the silo’s from an upright position onto the back of the lorry and vice versa. He uprighted one of his silo’s to display at Kington show. The silo did not touch the cables, instead it arced. Apparently because of the high voltage of these particular cables, the electricity can arc from 4ft away.
Thanks
Dallen, I’m ever so sorry about your Dad, and thanks for bumping this to remind lorry drivers how dangerous overhead hazards can be- nobody can turn back the clock but I hope this will make others- site owners and organisers as well as drivers- think about the terrible hidden danger of electricity. Even before you bumped this your Dad’s story was not in vain, I am sure others learned from it and I’m sure others will do now.
Harry Monk:
Dallen, I’m ever so sorry about your Dad, and thanks for bumping this to remind lorry drivers how dangerous overhead hazards can be- nobody can turn back the clock but I hope this will make others- site owners and organisers as well as drivers- think about the terrible hidden danger of electricity. Even before you bumped this your Dad’s story was not in vain, I am sure others learned from it and I’m sure others will do now.
I agree Harry. Mr Allen, thanks for coming on here and explaining some details of your Fathers accident and reminding us that no matter how often we do something it can still bite us. I doubt the details are important to you that were printed in the papers, JCB, Concrete Mixers etc.
I didn’t see the original posts by Dave the Renegade until now, so let me offer my belated sympathies, although my words cannot help you bring your Dad back.
Another Sad accident my Condolencies go to all the Drivers Family & Friends.x
Whilst I don’t mean to be offensive, I know loads of people hate me and will take this the wrong way…but I don’t get it. Surely if he was in his truck, doesn’t the metal structure of the cab act as a faraday cage??
Very sad,condolences to the family.
RIP Mervyn.
Adam_Mc:
Whilst I don’t mean to be offensive, I know loads of people hate me and will take this the wrong way…but I don’t get it. Surely if he was in his truck, doesn’t the metal structure of the cab act as a faraday cage??
Don’t put yourself down, your mum probably loves you 
Dallen may be able to answer the question for you about his fathers accident. He may have been stood at the side of the truck whilst upending the Silo or simply touching the controls and stood on the field.
I am sure if Dallen finds it offensive he will tell us all, but it is a timely warning for anyone using hydraulic equipment, tippers or simply high loads to be extremely careful around power lines.
A good friend at school when I was about 13 lost his dad when he hit a power cable with a tractor mounted hedge cutter, that didn’t work as a faraday cage.
Richard Hammond survived a controlled experiment, and the VW started afterwards
Adam_Mc:
Whilst I don’t mean to be offensive, I know loads of people hate me and will take this the wrong way…but I don’t get it. Surely if he was in his truck, doesn’t the metal structure of the cab act as a faraday cage??
I think he was operating the lifting equipment whilst stood by the side of the lorry.Very few lorries with cranes or lifting equipment are operated from inside the vehicle.
Dave the Renegade:
Adam_Mc:
Whilst I don’t mean to be offensive, I know loads of people hate me and will take this the wrong way…but I don’t get it. Surely if he was in his truck, doesn’t the metal structure of the cab act as a faraday cage??I think he was operating the lifting equipment whilst stood by the side of the lorry.Very few lorries with cranes or lifting equipment are operated from inside the vehicle.
I know the controls are on the outside…just from the way I read it I thought he was driving his truck forward and the load was to high and clipped the cables.
Adam_Mc:
Dave the Renegade:
Adam_Mc:
Whilst I don’t mean to be offensive, I know loads of people hate me and will take this the wrong way…but I don’t get it. Surely if he was in his truck, doesn’t the metal structure of the cab act as a faraday cage??I think he was operating the lifting equipment whilst stood by the side of the lorry.Very few lorries with cranes or lifting equipment are operated from inside the vehicle.
I know the controls are on the outside…just from the way I read it I thought he was driving his truck forward and the load was to high and clipped the cables.
If you read the report contained in the post from Mr Allen’s son,you will see he was uprighting one of the the silo’s.