A Perthshire hotel boss died after getting trapped in the cab of a JCB when it toppled off a pier.
Locals launched a desperate rescue effort when they saw the machine plunging into Loch Tay near the Ardeonaig Hotel, Killin.
Manager Gregor Deakin had been using the excavator to work on improvements to the jetty, a fatal accident inquiry heard.
Efforts were made to free the 48-year-old father-of-two from the submerged vehicle.
But he was pronounced dead at the pier-side after his lifeless body was recovered by firefighters.
The tragedy happened on the afternoon of October 6 2021.
Mr Deakin seen ‘holding onto glass’
The inquiry at Stirling Sheriff Court heard how Mr Deakin had been seen driving a dumper truck up and down the pier in the days leading up to the accident.
At around 2pm, Mr Deakin brought out another man William McShane to explain the improvements he intended to make.
He said he would use the excavator to reposition large boulders that were in the water.
The plan was to drive the JCB back to the lochside to fill up the dumper truck.
Mr McShane left Mr Deakin in the cab of the excavator and began to walk back along the pier.
In his published findings, Sheriff Derek Hamilton wrote: “Mr McShane heard a crunching noise which he believed was caused by the tracks of the excavator.
“When Mr McShane turned around he saw the excavator tipping into the water, and Mr Deakin in the cab holding onto the glass.”
Fisherman Ashley Allibone, working nearby, heard a “big splash” when the excavator fell off the pier.
Rescue efforts
Mr McShane ran back to the end of the pier and stood for a few seconds, expecting to see Mr Deakin emerge from the cab.
He then called Mr Allibone for help and phoned emergency services.
It is thought that the JCB rolled as it fell, coming to a rest with the door lying against the bottom of the loch.
Sheriff Hamilton said: “Efforts were made to try and get to Mr Deakin and to remove him from the cab.
“Mr McShane went into the water. He tried to break the window of the excavator with a boulder, but was unable to do so as the window was under water and would not break.”
Mr McShane then called for assistance from staff at the hotel.
Joiner Stuart McLean and ground worker Daniel Kirk and another man Lawrence McPake arrived on the scene.
Mr McShane tried to smash the window again, this time using a pitch bar.
He threw it at the vehicle, but it toppled into the water.
“Mr McShane had to stop as he was too cold from being in the water, and Mr McLean entered the water to help him out,” the report states.
Sheriff Hamilton said: “The cab was fully submerged and Mr Deakin was unable to escape.
“Mr Deakin was eventually removed from the cab by Scottish Fire and Rescue Service personnel.
“Attempts were made, but without success, to resuscitate Mr Deakin and life was later pronounced extinct.”
An investigation was unable to determine if a small hammer had been in the cab to smash the window from within.
Cheerful hard worker
The sheriff concluded that Mr Deakin had been an experienced worker – described by one of his employees as “one of the hardest working men I know.”
He found there was no evidence of any defects with the excavator.
“Quite simply this tragic accident was caused by Mr Deakin using equipment and a method of working on the pier which were inherently unsafe,” the sheriff said.
”The excavator was on this occasion too large to operator on the pier.“
The sheriff said Mr Deakin was “a family man, a man who was cheerful and upbeat and man with a zest for life.
”He was not selfish with his talents and enthusiasm, and he shared them with his local community.”
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