An inquiry found that an Aberdeen delivery driver died after being crushed by his car when he forgot to apply the handbrake on a hill.

Muhammad Arshid, 47 at the time of the incident, did not return to his workplace or contact his manager after a round of deliveries on Saturday morning, October 21, 2023.

The incident occurred around 11.30am on Craigbank Drive in Cults, where he was delivering packages.

A few minutes later, another driver noticed the self-employed delivery driver’s vehicle “parked diagonally across the pavement, with the rear wheels on the pavement and the front of the car at the kerb, facing towards the roadway but slightly uphill.”

The witness then noticed a man lying on his back beneath the vehicle, a Vauxhall Meriva, and that Mr Arshid was unresponsive before calling for help.

Within minutes of the accident, police, fire, and ambulance crews arrived, and Mr Arshid was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in what was described as a critical condition.

He was placed in an induced coma and ventilated in the hospital before dying five days later on Wednesday, October 26, 2023.

A fatal accident investigation at Aberdeen Sheriff Court concluded that Mr Arshid had parked the car without engaging the parking brake, and that when he exited the vehicle, he attempted to stop it as it rolled down the road towards him.

The investigation discovered that he had most likely fallen while attempting to redirect the car, which crushed him and caused a traumatic cardiac arrest and hypoxic brain injury.

Sheriff Miller stated that the vehicle had no faults and that Mr Arshid’s failure to apply the parking brake was the most likely cause of death.

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