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Forklift driver prosecuted over YouTube stunt video

A young forklift driver has been successfully prosecuted in Australian over a YouTube video of him doing stunts on a forklift.

Twenty-year-old Matthew Ward lost his job and forklift licence, and will have to do 50 hours of community work and a five-day health and safety course. He will also have to pay WorkSafe Victoria’s court costs of $1200.

Ward had been working with Australasian Pipeline and Pre-Cast, which makes reinforced concrete pipes. The video showed the driver deliberately crashing into concrete pipes, doing burnouts, and overloading the machine to do wheelies.

The clip was on YouTube for nearly two months. Ward’s boss saw it in July 2007, and sacked him for misconduct. The video has since been removed.

According to WorkSafe Victoria, Ward had not been wearing a seatbelt, increasing the risk of serious injury or death. Forklifts are among the most dangerous pieces of equipment in Victorian workplaces. Fifty-six lives have been lost to forklift since 1985, of which 19 were forklift drivers.