A north-east firm is trying to work out how to salvage a multi-million pound crane which collapsed on an industrial site a month ago.
The eight-axle vehicle, worth more than £3million, toppled when one of its tail-end stabilisers sank into the ground at Dales Industrial Estate, Peterhead.
The accident happened at a site operated by subsea business Aquatic on the afternoon of May 5. No one was injured when the 630ft vehicle went over.
Now bosses at the machine’s owners, Tipperty-based Whyte Crane Hire, say they are trying to work out how to move the stranded crane.
A spokesman said: “The crane is still there and a recovery plan is being developed.”
Previous attempts to move the crane proved fruitless and it remains in place visible from the main road into the town.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive is now under way, amid concerns that the site was not suitable for a vehicle of this size and weight.
The cab of the crane was left suspended more than 50ft in the air and the boom buckled to a 90 degree angle.
This was the latest in a string of serious incidents involving machinery owned by the firm in recent years.
Six years ago, one of the firm’s vehicles was at the centre of an investigation into a road accident which claimed the lives of a woman and her two daughters.
In 2012, a sheriff ruled that the firm played a fundamental role in the events leading up to a crash in January 2008 in which Johnshaven woman Ann Copeland, 45, and her daughters, Niamh, 10, and Ciara, 7, died.
They were on a school run when their car skidded on the A92 Stonehaven-Dundee road near St Cyrus. It was later discovered that hydraulic fluid that had leaked from a mobile Terex crane – which had been on the road shortly before the family set off – was responsible for Mrs Copeland losing control of her car.
A fatal accident inquiry ruled that the accident could have been avoided if the mobile crane had been properly maintained.