An apprentice builder has been left paralysed from the chest down after he plunged 25 feet from a ladder, a court heard.

Timothy Hague, 20, suffered serious spinal injuries after he was knocked off an extended ladder by a falling piece of heavy guttering.

Bradford Magistrates were told yesterday that Mr Hague was working as an apprentice for Bradford builder Graham Swain when the accident happened in February this year.

The court was told he is still receiving intensive treatment at a specialist unit at Pinderfields Hospital, Wakefield.

Swain, 45, of Lindley Drive, Bradford, one of the partners of K Swain Joinery, in Bradford, pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety guidelines by not carrying out an adequate risk assessment.

He was fined £7,000 for the offence.

Phil Burgess, prosecuting on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive, said the father-of-four should have carried out a full assessment before work began at the terraced house in City Road, Bradford.

A Bradford City season ticket holder and keen amateur footballer, Mr Hague was 19 and had only worked for several months when he fell.

Mr Burgess said he was asked by his workmate Rangzeb Hussain to help him dismantle a rotten wooden gutter. Mr Hussain, who worked for Swain for 14 years, was extending the ladder above the front gutter to cut it into pieces because it was too heavy to lift.

He asked Mr Hague to foot the ladder while he went up about eight metres to cut it and then lowered the ladder to lift it down piece by piece. But on the second occasion Mr Hague went up the extended ladder and was knocked to the pavement by a piece of falling guttering.

"This work could not have been done safely from a ladder as workers needed two hands to lift the guttering down, but they would need one hand to also hold on to the ladder," said Mr Burgess. "Because Mr Hussain could not lift the guttering himself it meant he had to extend the ladder above the guttering then re-position it below to lift the pieces off, leaving a section insecure."

Mr Burgess said Swain also put passers-by at risk because the ladder was positioned on the pavement and there were no cordons.

"Falls from a height are the largest cause if accidents in the construction industry, and about 50 per cent are fatal," said Mr Burgess. He said Swain should have used an elevated platform or scaffolding tower.

In mitigation, Andrew Scott said Swain was so upset about the accident he had not allowed either of his two employees to work up ladders since the accident, and had only been up a ladder himself about three times.

"My client deeply regrets the accident," he said. He said with hindsight Swain, who has been doing roofing work for about 20 years, realised he should have used scaffolding but it did not occur to him because it would have cost about £500. The work, which was not finished, would have cost £100.

Mr Scott said Swain, who went on a health and safety course five years ago, always considered the safety of his employees when assessing a job.

Chairman of the bench Tony Lofthouse said he believed it was not a deliberate breach of health and safety laws. Swain was also ordered to pay £879.20 costs.

Today, Mr Hague's former football manager Ronnie Firth said he was known as "Bobsey" and was one of the key players for Ventus Sports football team in the Bradford Alliance division two B. "He was an excellent sweeper, he was brilliant," he said.

"It was a huge shock to us. We've been doing as much as we can for the family."