A water company is being prosecuted over the death of one of its workers.

David Mason, 42, was crushed to death between a crane he was operating and a bus in east Cleveland last December.

Following an inquest which returned a verdict of misadventure last month, the Government's safety agency, the Health and Safety Executive, has now served Mr Mason's former employers, Northumbrian Water, with court summonses for breaches of safety regulations.

The water company faces three offences: failure to ensure the safety of their employee, David Mason on December 8, 2000, failure to ensure the safety of the general public and failure to carry out an adequate risk assessment of the crane operation being carried out on Brotton High Street.

A first hearing will be held at Guisborough Magistrates Court later this month, but is expected to go to Teesside Crown Court next year.

Mr Mason who lived at Thornaby, Teesside, died at traffic light controlled road works, while operating a jib and grab, mounted on a lorry.

The inquest, held in Middlesbrough, heard that the boom and grab were being used to scoop up a pile of rubble, swinging in a 180 degree arc across a live traffic lane to do so.

The collision between the social services bus and the jib happened with just one more scoop needed to finish the job on the evening of December 8, last year.

Motorist Brian Williams told the inquest he had been forced to take avoiding action earlier in the day when he thought the grab was going to hit his car.

Both a police and an HSE inspector told last month's inquest that Mr Mason could have avoided swinging the jib in a 180 degree arc.

A Northumbrian Water spokesman said: "The summonses have only recently been received, we have not got all the papers from the HSE and will routinely ask for an adjournment to consider a response. In view of all those facts it would be inappropriate to comment further."

Mr Mason's family could not be contacted for comment.