MAGISTRATES have awarded £5,500 compensation to a Kidderminster carpet worker hurt in a factory accident.

His union is also seeking damages in a civil action.

Carpets of Worth was fined £3,000 by the Kidderminster court and ordered to pay £1,400 costs after admitting breaches of health and safety regulations.

Jazep Buka, 42, was badly injured when he was entangled in a spiked roller at the firm's Puxton Lane works last year.

The court was told he is still not fit to return to work, 15 months after the accident.

He suffered broken ribs, a broken collarbone and extensive cuts and bruises to the upper body, said Kay Brookes, prosecuting for the Health and Safety Executive.

He had 19 years' experience of operating the carpet-brushing machine, which had been in use for 35 years.

He was entangled in the back of the machine before workmates heard his screams and freed him.

The firm was in breach of regulations because it did not carry out a risk assessment on the machine or provide a readily-accessible emergency stop.

"The company failed to comply with the most basic rules and the resulting injuries were terrible," Mrs Brookes told the court.

Malcolm Nock, for the firm, said it regretted the injuries to a long-serving and loyal employee who remained on the payroll and hoped to return to work.

Risk assessment had been carried out on most of the machinery and the firm could not explain why the brushing machine was omitted.

Safety measures put in place since the accident were in excess of those recommended by the regulators, Mr Nock said.