Mayo supermarket car park was 'accident waiting to happen'

A grieving family have accused a Mayo supermarket company of playing ‘Russian Roulette’ with people’s lives following the death of a woman in a store car park.

Kavanagh Retail Unlimited Company were fined €125,000 in Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court following the death of 76-year old Westport woman Maureen Hopkins.

The company, with an address at Shop Street, Westport, pleaded guilty to five breaches of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act after the grandmother was knocked down and killed by a delivery truck driver.

Mrs Hopkins, of Rosmoney, Carrowholly, Westport, died after she was hit by a lorry in the car park of SuperValu, Westport on June 6, 2024. Last March, delivery driver Mihail Tanasevici, aged 42, of Woodford Road, Clondalkin, Dublin 22 was sentenced to five months in prison after he pleaded guilty at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court to careless driving causing Mrs Hopkins’ death.

The breaches under the Act include failing to ensure adequate traffic management and safety measures for vehicles and pedestrians in the car park. The fifth count determined that the company failed to take the necessary steps to implement measures to improve safety, health and welfare after a risk assessment was carried out.

The court heard a risk assessment on the car park was carried out in 2020 but the company only implemented its recommendations following the death of Mrs Hopkins four years later.

The company was represented in court on Friday by managing director Noel Kavanagh and financial director Eamon Donnelly.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Authority (HAS) revealed that there was no traffic management plan in place for the car park. The investigation found there were no designated pedestrian walkways in place, no designated pedestrian crossing points present, pedestrian and moving vehicles shared the safe circulation areas, there was no dedicated loading and unloading area and delivery vehicles carrying out loading activities occupied areas used by customer traffic. A traffic attendant was also not on duty on the day of the fatal accident.

Following the death of Mrs Hopkins, work was carried out on the car park which included installing a designated loading area resulting in the removal of six parking spaces. Deliveries involving heavy goods vehicles and articulated trucks are now carried out before 8am and safety rules for suppliers have been developed while designated pedestrian walkways and crossings have been allocated.

The company has spent €740,000 (including land acquisition) to make the necessary alterations to the car park.

Heartbreaking and emotional victim impact statements were delivered in court by Mrs Hopkins' brother George Darcy and her daughter Sinead Hopkins.

“We want and need to publicly acknowledge how much our lovely sister Maureen meant to us,” said Mr Darcy.

Mrs Hopkins, a mother of five and grandmother of nine, was originally from Bagnalstown, Co Carlow. Her brother said Maureen was “cruelly, tragically, and needlessly taken from us". 

Mr Darcy said his “knees weakened” and he hit the ground when he first learned of her death.

“I am still haunted by that phone call I received,” he commented.

Mr Darcy said he was shocked when he made the 180-mile journey from his home in Co Carlow to Westport and discovered that less than 24 hours after his sister’s death the store was operating as usual “as if nothing had happened”. He said on the day of Maureen’s wake the people in attendance had to make way for people using the entrance to the same car park where she lost her life.

He said Maureen was a loyal SuperValu customer. The doting grandmother was buying soft rolls in the store on the day she died because her grandkids didn’t like crusty ones.

“The car park in any modern store should be a safe space for people, including our sister Maureen, going about their daily lives," he remarked.

When he returned to Westport for Maureen’s month's mind mass, the car park had been transformed.

“It had everything a safe car park should have. If only some of those had been in place on that morning of June 6, 2024, our sister Maureen would still be alive and we would be visiting her in her lovely home in Rosmoney in Carrowholly, instead of in the graveyard in Kilmeena where she now lies,” said Mr Darcy.

Maureen’s daughter Sinead said her mum was the “heart of our home” and her loss has left a void that will never be filled. She said her mother had bravely overcome cancer and battled to ensure she had more time with her family but her life was cruelly snatched away by the fatal accident.

She criticised Kavanagh Retailing for failing to enact a risk assessment plan.

“What makes Mum’s death so difficult to accept is the knowledge that prior to Mum being killed, SuperValu Westport had conducted a risk assessment of the car park and had in their hands a document that outlined the risks in the car park. Yet, they did not act on them. SuperValu chose to play a game of Russian Roulette but they were the only ones aware of the stakes,” said Sinead.

She said the family have lost Maureen’s “love, guidance, and her presence in our everyday lives".

“When I think of Mum, I can feel her smiling at me, I can picture her face, her warmth, and the person she was to me. But instead that beautiful memory is taken away and I am transported back to SuperValu car park in Westport. There, instead of seeing my Mum smiling at me, I see her lying on the cold ground looking up at me. The contrast between those two images is something that I struggle with,” said Sinead.

She said her mother is “not a statistic” and nothing can undo what has happened.

Barrister Brendan McDonagh, representing Kavanagh Retailing Unlimited Company, said his clients wished to offer their sincere condolences to the Hopkins family.

He said the supermarket had been operating in Westport for 40 years without any incident in the car park, but stated that “one tragedy is one too many".

Judge Eoin Garavan said that car park was “unfit for purpose” and “was an accident waiting to happen". He believed there was a combination of factors in the case and was of the view that the primary reason for the accident was the failure of the driver to see Mrs Hopkins.

The judge said the driver’s view was obscured by an ‘absurd’ pelmet/curtain in the lorry while Mrs Hopkins’ diminutive stature may have also contributed to the driver failing to see her.

The delivery truck was in the car park and reversed to allow a vehicle to exit the car park. The driver then moved forward to allow another car exit the car park.

When the truck moved off again it collided with Mrs Hopkins as she approached from the driver’s left-hand side.

A previous court hearing heard that a number of non-essential items on the dashboard and a pelmet curtain may have impaired the driver’s vision. The items included stickers, a green canvas bag, decorative Mercedes lights and suction cup holders.

The court heard the pelmet may have obscured a cyclops camera which had been fitted to negate a blind spot issue.

However, at Friday’s hearing, Judge Garavan said this does not “obviate SuperValu’s responsibility” for the safety of customers.

He added that the fact the company's failure to act on a risk assessment was the “most egregious” matter in the case before the court.

Judge Garavan said the company acted swiftly following Mrs Hopkin’s death but by that time the “horse had bolted” and a life had been lost.

“They were found out, they were caught, someone died on their premises,” he remarked. 

The judge imposed fines totalling €125,000 on the company.

• Published as part of the Courts Reporting Scheme.