A FIRE wood supply firm which admitted causing the death of a young father who fell off a roof at work has had its operator’s licence revoked following a public inquiry.

Benjamin Edge, 25, slipped and fell to his death in torrid weather conditions at Fletcher Bank Quarry in Shuttleworth, Ramsbottom, on December 10 2014.

His employer SR and RJ Brown Ltd was fined £300,000 at Manchester Crown Court earlier this year after pleaded guilty to corporate manslaughter.

Christopher, 25, and James Brown, 32, former directors of SR and RJ Brown Ltd, were each jailed for 20 months for failing to ensure Mr Edge’s safety at work and then trying to cover up their shortcomings, perverting the course of justice.

That was in relation to their conduct of creating backdated health and safety checks during the afternoon after Mr Edge fell, and ordering another worker to fetch lanyards and harnesses to make it look like Mr Edge had been provided with the correct equipment and chosen not to use it.

Devastated mother of Benjamin Edge who died at work speaks out after company bosses jailed

Traffic Commissioner Simon Evans has now stripped SR and RJ Brown Ltd of the standard national goods vehicle operator’s licence it has held since 2005.

Kiln Lime Limited, a company linked to SR and RJ Brown Ltd, has had its application for a standard national goods vehicle operator’s licence refused.

The inquiry heard that Jane Brown, who is the mother of Christopher and James Brown, is the the transport manager for R and RJ Brown Ltd and is nominated in the same role for Kiln Lime.

The inquiry was told Gillian Mares is a director of Kiln Lime and succeeded her partner Robert James Brown, who remains as a shareholder.

Christopher Brown, who along with his brother has been released from prison on licence, is employed by Kiln as a salesman.

Stating that he had no adverse findings against the repute and professional competence of Jane Brown as a transport manager, Mr Evans said that ‘right-thinking people would conclude that the continuing presence within a family business of former directors, who had demonstrated such a propensity for falsification during a criminal inquiry in order to seek to evade the company’s responsibility, would be wholly unacceptable’.

He also expressed concerns about who was concerned about who was the ‘guiding mind’ at Kiln Lime.