A SCHOOLBOY from Stretford was crushed to death by heavy roller shutters at the exit to a car park an inquest in Stockport heard last week.

Patrick Morris, aged 11, of Partridge Street, died on November 1 last year just days before his 12th birthday.

He had been playing at the Chorley Street car park in Stretford with his friend. The two of them jumped on to the shutters as they lifted automatically to let a car out of the car park.

Patrick's friend jumped off, but the Blessed Thomas Holford pupil didn't and he was trapped.

Stephen North was leaving the car park at the time of the accident, he told the inquest: "The shutters are made of open links and I could see two young boys run onto the door and jump onto it as it started to move up.

"One of the boys jumped off and screamed and ran off. The other boy didn't reappear."

Mr North told the inquest he ran to the first floor of the car park to try to reach Patrick who was unresponsive, another driver called 999.

The inquest heard how children regularly played on the shutters at the car park exit. One child would jump onto the shutter and ride up with it, and if two children jumped on, their combined weight would be enough to jam the shutters half way up.

Owners of the car park, Bruntwood, installed the shutters at the exit to the car park in September 2000 as a security measure to prevent children from playing in the car park.

The Health and Safety Executive investigated following the accident and issued an improvement notice - which is not intended as a punitive measure - the company complied with the notice within three months.

Verdict: Misadventure