A CONSTRUCTION worker has pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter of a colleague in a building site accident.

Telescopic handler driver Nigel Herring, 34, denied the charge at a hearing at Plymouth Crown Court, and will face trial at the same court on November 17.

Herring, wearing a dark suit, white shirt and blue striped tie, answered firmly, "Not guilty" as the indictment of unlawfully killing Reece Ashley French on September 14, 2007, was put to him.

Herring, of Southway Drive, Southway, was granted continuing unconditional bail by Judge Francis Gilbert QC, who also agreed that the jury should be allowed to spend up to half a day on a construction site to see Manitou machinery being operated.

The trial will be conducted by a visiting High Court judge.

Reece French, aged 20, and from Tamerton Foliot, was reportedly killed by a falling skip while working for construction company Kier Western at the East End Community Village Enterprise Centre in Cattedown.

Last November, police spokesman Det Sgt Justin Clifford told The Herald: "After a lengthy investigation, the Crown Prosecution Service has decided that Kier Western will not face corporate manslaughter charges.

"No action will be taken against the site manager and site foreman.

"The Crown Prosecution Service hasstated that, based on the evidence before them, there is insufficient evidence to sustain a charge of corporate manslaughter against the company, Kier Western.

"It is also the decision of the CPS that no further action will be taken against the site manager and site foreman with regard to the offence of gross negligence manslaughter," he added.