A shovel loader which hit and killed a papermill warehouse worker had a faulty forward viewing camera which should have acted as an aid to its driver, an inquest heard.

On the second day of the inquest on Austin Thomas, who died from "physical crush injuries" after being hit by the loader carrying waste newspaper at UPM in Shotton, the jury heard from forensic vehicle examiner Peter Jones who described how the broken camera "could have been a factor in the incident".

"The camera is fixed at such a height to be a driver's aid and give you the best visibility experience," said Mr Jones, who examined the Volvo 150g bucket loader after the incident on February 7, 2017.

"As the bucket was fully laden at the time of the incident, the driver's view to the front was restricted.

"It is my opinion that the inoperable front camera could be a factor in the incident."

Mr Thomas, 29, was walking on the warehouse floor when he was hit by the shovel loader driven by colleague Darren Wright minutes after the pair had shared a cigarette break together.

Mr Thomas, of Gardener’s Row, Oakenholt, Flint, had been a soldier for eight years, serving in both Kosovo and Afghanistan, before returning home from Hampshire to live closer to his parents and work with his father at the papermill.

Earlier the inquest heard from a number of the former solider's workmates at the warehouse including Eric 'Dixie' Dean, who described the horrific moments following the incident which killed the father-of-one.

"I could see the Volvo bucket shaking and there was a lot of paper on the floor," said Mr Dean, who said he had worked for the papermill's owners UPM for over 25 years.

"I could see someone lying down and I thought he'd slipped over when Darren shouted to me 'did you see that?'

Mr Dean added four to six men worked in the warehouse and they would communicate using walkie talkie radios.

"If I was walking I'd tell the drivers where I am on the warehouse floor," he said. "If someone didn't shout back, I'd wait and get their attention."

Another of Mr Thomas' colleagues, Kyle Macallister, said he had seen the ex-soldier moments before the incident and did not hear him say into a radio that he was going out on the warehouse floor.

"I heard Darren say he'd run over a load of paper," said Mr Macallister. "Then Dixie was on the radio asking why Austin was on the floor.

"I thought Dixie was winding Darren up,"

Following his arrest at home after the incident Mr Wright was the subject of a roadside drugs swab which proved negative, but after questioning at Wrexham Police Station, he agreed to a blood toxicology test which later tested positive for a very low level of cannabis.

The inquest heard from two toxicologists, Victoria Jenkins and Kirsten Turner, who produced a joint report concluding that it was "not possible to comment on any likely impairment" to Mr Wright's driving.

A statement from Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector Mhairi Duffy was also read to the jury in which she noted the warehouse had no pedestrian walkways or segregation between vehicles and pedestrians and that the roadway on which the incident took place had been narrowed to accommodate more waste paper.

The inquest continues.