Farmer dies after bull bolts

26 March 2001



Farmer dies after bull bolts

By FWi staff

A SCOTTISH farmer has died two weeks after receiving head injuries when he was knocked down by a bull.

Bert Findlay, 74, from Inchloan, near Durris, Aberdeenshire died of his injuries at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary on Friday (23 March).

A neighbour described how he had been helping Mr Findlay load the bull into a livestock trailer two weeks before on 9 March.

He said: “Everything was just fine when we put the beast into the trailer, but then Bert had to close the gate to keep it in there.

“The trailer was beside one of the farm gates and Bert tried to close the farm gate, which was the wrong one, and the beast became spooked and it bolted.

“When it bolted, it hit the gate, which hit Bert, and the full weight of both of them knocked him over.

“We were on a ramp, which Bert was at the top of, and he fell back and his head hit the ground very hard. It was a really hard crack.”

The bull should have been transported a week earlier, but was held back because of transport restrictions imposed because of foot-and-mouth disease.

A spokeswoman for the Health and Safety Executive said an investigation into the accident was under way.