A FACTORY maintenance engineer suffered a fatal fall from a fork-lift truck as he tried to repair a faulty loading bay door, an inquest was told yesterday.

David Woodcock, 51, of Bank Foot Farm, West Auckland, fell head first from a pallet held by the truck's forks when the door collapsed above him at Evenwood Engineering, Evenwood.

Company rules, tightened after an earlier accident, required staff to use a mobile hydraulic manned lift if they needed to work at height, the Bishop Auckland hearing was told.

Mr Woodcock, who led the maintenance team and was described as an experienced and competent engineer, was called to the factory in July 2002 when the electrically operated door had jammed open.

He instructed welder Barry Coulthard to raise him up on the truck and operate the door's controls while he levered it free.

Mr Coulthard said: "I asked him if he was going to use an access platform. His words were, 'No, I haven't got time for that thing'.

"He used a piece of wood to prise the door away from the lintel. This released the door from its trappings, it went violently to the top of its stops, the tracking system shook violently and it began to collapse."

The hearing was told that the door had been damaged three to four months before the tragedy.

In warm weather it was left open 24 hours a day, but the factory was shutting down for the summer holidays.

The company's technical director, Graham Moss, said: "There have always been procedures for working at height, but they were reinforced heavily after a previous accident.

A jury sitting with South Durham coroner Colin Penna returned a verdict of accidental death.

Evenwood Engineering is owned by Eliza Tinsley plc.