Pictured: Workman crushed to death after pop-up urinal 'dropped suddenly', inquest hears
9 February 2023, 13:38 | Updated: 9 February 2023, 17:44
A workman was crushed to death after a pop-up urinal he was repairing "dropped suddenly", an inquest has heard.
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Kevin Holding, 60, was killed at Cambridge Circus in central London. He was identified by his Oyster card.
Paramedics arrived at the scene at 1.05pm on January 27 after reports of a seriously injured man.
But the inquest hearing at West London Coroners Court revealed there was a delay in the arrival of a vehicle to help lift the urinal until after 3pm.
CCTV captured the moment the Westminster City Council toilet fell, police said.
A post-mortem examination confirmed the cause of death as compression asphyxia.
Mr Holding had begun work between 10 and 10.30am and was near finishing work on the toilet when he became trapped just before 1pm.
The London Fire Brigade said at the time Mr Holding have been trapped below street level "underneath" the urinal.
Dozens of firefighters and four fire engines were sent to the scene to help him before a crane was later brought along to lift the entire structure out of the ground.
The contractor was a father-of-three employed by Hi-tech Washroom Solutions Limited and lived in Beckinham, the inquest heard.
The ‘telescopic urinal’ was just yards away from the Palace Theatre - home to the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - at the junction of Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross road.
