A COMPANY boss and a lorry driver have been cleared of causing the death of a man who was crushed under a lorry.

Andrew Walker, 34, of Bury Fold Lane, Darwen, a director and warehouse supervisor of Kenley Distribution and Warehousing, and HGV driver Christopher Bott, 37, were both cleared after the prosecution decided to offer no further evidence against them.

Mr Walker had been charged with procuring the death by dangerous driving of Khalil Khan.

Mr Bott, of Melbourne Street, Clayton-le-Moors was charged with causing Mr Khan's death by dangerous driving. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of careless driving and was fined £1,000 and his driving licence endorsed with six penalty points.

Graham Morrow, QC, prosecuting, said he had decided to drop the charges when it became clear that it would be impossible to prove that Mr Khan's death had been caused by either defendant.

He said: "It is impossible for me to invite the jury to say that the load was an obvious danger and they could not find that there was dangerous driving by reason of the nature of the load.

"I cannot invite the jury now, in all the circumstances, to conclude that the speed of the vehicle was such that it was dangerous."

Mr Khan died the day after the 32-tonne lorry driven by Mr Bott, toppled onto the pavement at the junction of the A666 and a slip road of the M65 at Earcroft in January last year.

He died from leg and pelvic injuries a day after the accident

Mr Morrow QC had earlier told the court : "Something caused this vehicle to roll over on this occasion. Either the toppling of the dangerous and insecure load was a cause or Mr Bott drove too fast and far faster than he considered a safe speed round the corner."

A tacograph taken from the lorry showed a reading of about 15 miles per hour when the truck went round the corner.