Three companies prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive following the horror death crash in which a motorway worker died after being hit by a lorry during M25 night work have been committed for Crown Court trial.

Father-of-one Christopher Lewis, 38, of Marshfield Road, Chippenham, Wiltshire, died instantly on August 18, 2004, after an articulated lorry travelling at 55 mph in a 30 mph zone ploughed through cones, striking his white works van, which crushed him against crash barriers.

He had been employed for six years by one of the defendants, CD Fencing and Construction Services Ltd. of Cocklebury Road, Chippenham, who were sub-contractors involved in replacing 500 smashed lights in the Holmesdale Tunnel, Enfield, near the junction with the A10.

The defendant companies were committed from City of London Magistrates’ Court to appear at Southwark Crown Court on April 27 for a plea and case management hearing.

All three companies are charged that on or about August 18, 2004, being employers, they failed to ensure as far as was reasonably practicable the safety at work of their employees and people not in their employment, contrary to the Health and Safety at Work Act.

The other two companies are Carillion Highway Maintenance Ltd. of Birch Street, Wolverhampton, who were the principal contractor’s employed to carry out the repairs and Traffic Management (North East) Ltd. of Rennys Lane, Dragonville Industrial Estate, Durham, responsible for road safety.

An inquest into Mr. Lewis’s death in December 2005 recorded a verdict of accidental death. He left behind fiancé Kim Lord, 27, and son Lawrence, one.

Mr Lewis was a pupil at Sheldon School and swam for the county at Caine Sports Centre where his father Mike, 71, and mother Margaret, 65, where instructors.

An employee of Traffic Management, Gavin Shaw, suffered a fractured arm when struck by a flying traffic cone.

A contra flow traffic system was in place as Mr. Lewis and a workmate began dismantling safety fencing at one end of the tunnel.

The Health and Safety Executive allege it would have been far safer to dismantle fencing at the other end of the tunnel first and claim there were no static speed signs warning approaching motorists to not exceed 30 mph.