A SKIP hire firm boss, facing court over the death of an employee in Blackburn, set up another firm the day before he was due in the dock, a court heard.

Zafir Mohammed, 42, was prosecuted following the death of asylum seeker Amin Qabil at his Blackburn Skip Hire premises in Lower Hollin Bank Street in 2010.

But even before he had even answered a summons in respect of that, he had established 1First Choice Skip Hire at an adjacent site, Preston Crown Court was told.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive later revealed the new company had also flouted the law governing workplace protections.

And Judge Robert Altham has now disqualified him from being a company director for five years, in light of the HSE probe.

Mohammed and 1First Choice, of which he was sole director, pleaded guilty to various offences under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

He was given a six-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to carry out 190 hours community service with six rehabilitation activity days.

Passing sentence, Judge Altham said it was “very significant”, when it came to considering the defendant’s understanding of his offending, that he had incorporated 1First Choice while the Blackburn Skip Hire proceedings had yet to begin.

Mohammed, of Angela Street, Blackburn, was given a suspended sentence for the Blackburn Skip Hire charges in December 2013 and the company was fined £60,000.

Miss Emsley-Smith said various adjustments had been made to a shovel loader, before the worker’s death, including removing speed limiters and a cut-off device, which activated if an operator left the seat.

An inquest at the time heard that Mr Qabil suffered fatal head injuries when he was hit by the moving loader.

Miss Emsley-Smith said it was discovered, when HSE inspector Steven Boyd visited in October 2017, that a telehandler at 1First Choice had no wing mirrors, faulty brake lights and showed signs of crash damage

No welfare facilities had been provided for staff and workers were expected to contend with a fire-damaged portion of the main building, where they ran the risk of being hit but falling materials. While several of the faults were later rectified, following prohibitions notices, safety concerns remained.

Anna Chestnutt, defending, said her client, a father-of-two, had now trained to be a civil engineer and was looking to leave the waste business behind.

Mohammed said he had been through a “living hell” around the time of his employee’s death, she told the court, and he appreciated he should have paid more attention to the health and safety.

His skip hire firm had been hit by arson attacks which had severely hampered operations, she said.

She said when 1First Choice was first incorporated other members of his family took a more prominent role but he accepted he had become the sole director later.