A LABOURER who was trapped inside the rotating drum of a waste separation line could hear voices “screaming phone the ambulance” after his arm was spotted amongst a blockage.

Ray Garrett suffered leg and head injuries when the trommel drum, a large cylindrical drum used to separate waste, was switched on at the John Wade recycling plant, at Aycliffe Village, near Newton Aycliffe.

He was giving evidence at the third day of the inquest yesterday into the death of colleague Simon Hogg, of Hurworth Place, near Darlington, who was fatally injured while alongside him inside the machine on the morning of December 12, 2015.

The jury at Crook Coroner’s Court heard Mr Garrett recount the events which led him and 47-year-old Mr Hogg to climb inside the two-diameter drum to clear a blockage caused by paper being processed on the line.

Mr Garrett said the paper was up to his knees and he was pushing it through the exit of the trommel onto a moving conveyor belt. “Simon was in the middle of the tumbler and was pushing paper towards me,” he added.

The witness said he was hit twice by what he believed to be a rake from outside the trommel and he shouted from within to warn those outside.

He told the court it “went quiet” and the trommel was switched on - rotating as paper started to drop in from the entrance point.

“I was on my feet and as the motor started up I was facing the wrong way,” he said.

Mr Garrett said he managed to turn around but was unable to remain upright.

He said: “I was able to run with the machine until it became too heavy and that’s when it knocked me off my feet.”

Assistant coroner Oliver Longstaff heard that where he was in the trommel was reasonably clear but became less so as paper continued to come in.

“We were both shouting for it to stop”, he said, adding: “About three or four minutes in he (Mr Hogg) stopped shouting altogether.”

Mr Garrett said he was only aware the drum had stopped rotating when he felt somebody’s hand.

He added: “I could hear someone screaming ‘phone for the ambulance, phone for the ambulance’.”

In evidence, Mr Garrett said he learned how to run the line by copying colleague John Causer, who usually operated it, who he took over from at break times, lunchtimes and sometimes at weekends.

He told the court he was shown how the machinery and line worked but was “not trained”.

He added he was never shown anything about isolating the line and was never issued or saw a padlock and key in use.

The court heard previously that padlocks are to be used as part of the process of safely isolating machinery.

The inquest continues.