A LANCASHIRE company has been fined £10,000 after a worker was castrated by unguarded machinery in an horrific accident at St Annes.

Noriphalt Limited, an asphalting firm based at Bradley hall Trading Estate, Standish near Wigan, was also ordered to pay victim Mr Stacey Waring £5,000 compensation -- the maximum the court could impose -- after the 30-year-old's testicles were severed by the machine in October 2001.

After the hearing, Mr Waring, who lives with his partner in Bolton, spoke out for the first time. "As you can imagine this has had a traumatic effect on my life. I have been through agony and it is something I would really not like to talk about.

"Suffice it to say my life has changed a great deal since that day. I will never be the same again," he said.

Blackpool Magistrates heard how Bolton man Mr Waring had been part of a five-man team repairing a flat roof at Newfield Jones Construction Limited offices on Fleet Street, St Annes on October 24, 2001.

To get to a lever on an asphalt tanker he had leaned over an engine with an unguarded rotating shaft.

"The rotating shaft caught in Mr Waring's tracksuit bottoms, amputating both his testicles and removing the skin from his penis," the prosecutor told the court.

"He was taken to Victoria Hospital, Blackpool and then to the Royal Preston Hospital where he received plastic surgery. I understand he will need hormone treatment for the rest of his life."

Magistrates also heard that Mr Waring -- who was working for the company on a casual basis while he was on leave from the Army -- did not receive any formal training from the company.

On the day of the accident there was no supervision on the site and the guard had been missing from the rotating shaft for more than a week.

Mr David Wynn, for the company, said the firm had no previous convictions and that managing director Michael Norris had taken the accident extremely seriously and been very upset by it.

"On the day of the accident Mr Norris noticed the guard was missing. Mr Stacey Waring was present when the gang was told the guard must be put back on before the tanker went out," he added.

He said Noriphalt had since had a new guard manufactured for the shaft.

The company employed 12 full-time workers and a substantial fine could potentially threaten the company's existence, the court was told.

Noriphalt admitted two offences of breaching The Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined and ordered to pay compensation, plus £2,530 costs.

Presiding magistrate, Mrs Collette Woodhouse, said: "Nothing is ever going to compensate Mr Waring for these injuries."

She added: "We understand a civil claim for compensation is pending."