Workman crushed to death when pop-up urinal ‘dropped suddenly’ while he was doing repairs, inquest hears

A WORKMAN was crushed to death after a pop-up urinal "dropped suddenly", an inquest heard.

Kevin Holding, 60, was killed by the device outside the Palace Theatre in Central London when it toppled over as he worked on it.

Emergency services were unable to save him when they arrived on the afternoon of January 27.

He was pronounced dead at 3.40pm that day, two hours after becoming trapped.

A post-mortem examination revealed the cause of death to be asphyxiation due to compression.

Kevin is understood to have started work on the device between 10am and 10.30am and was almost done when he became trapped just before 1pm.

The inquest heard that emergency services rushed to the scene shortly after, but a vehicle capable of lifting the urinal didn't arrive until 3.15pm.

Police reported that the horrifying moment the urinal fell was captured on chilling CCTV.

The tragic engineer, who lived with his partner in Beckenham, South-East London, was identified by his Oyster card.

Coroner Professor Fiona Wilcox opened and adjourned the inquest at a remote hearing at Inner West London Coroner's Court on February 9.

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She offered her "very sincere condolences" to Kevin's partner and three children, who were in attendance.

Pop-up urinals are stored underground and use a hydraulic mechanism to rise to street level at night.

Westminster City Council introduced them around two decades ago to try and cut down on public urination.