A worker died after an accident with a forklift truck at a Banbury builders’ merchant.

The 60-year-old suffered serious injuries in the accident at Jewsons in Beaumont Road and was rushed to the Horton General Hospital.

However he died soon after.

The man is from Banbury but he had not been formally identified last night.

A police spokesman said emergency services were called to the branch at 3.40pm on Friday. He said police had passed the case on to the Health and Safety Executive for investigation.

He added police viewed the incident as an accident.

But the HSE claimed last night the case was not part of its jurisdiction because it had happened in a retail premises. The organisation said it had since passed the case on to Oxfordshire County Council, which was last night unable to comment.

It comes four years after another workplace death in the town.

In 2008, Michael Whateley was crushed to death on a building site in Broughton Road when a JCB telescopic handler toppled on to the car he was sitting in.

Linden Limited, the company developing the site for housing, admitted failing to ensure the JCB was in the correct condition to be used and was fined £14,500.