INVESTIGATIONS are continuing today into the death of a worker at a North Yorkshire distribution depot.

North Yorkshire Police have not officially named the worker, but said he was a 50-year-old man from Wakefield. He has been named locally as Steve Reynolds.

He was killed in a collision with a tractor-type vehicle on the grounds of the Sainsbury's distribution depot in Sherburn in Elmet, which is run by haulage and logistics company Wincanton, at about 8.30am on Sunday.

One Wincanton worker, who asked not to be named, said he was alerted to the incident while in another area of the depot, and was very upset by his colleague's death.

He said: "I heard about it five minutes after. I just started crying straight away.

"Steve was a fantastic family man. He'd got two young children, a lad of 12 and a girl of about eight. He was a hard worker, and an absolutely fantastic laugh."

The tractor-type vehicle involved in the incident was a 'shunter', used to move trailers around the yard, but did not have a trailer attached when it was in collision with Mr Reynolds.

A spokeswoman for Wincanton, a logistics and haulage business which runs the site, said "details of the incident are unclear", and the company is assisting emergency services with their investigation.

Deliveries from the depot were stopped after the incident to allow a thorough investigation of the site, but were believed to have started up again on Monday.

A spokesman for Selby District Council confirmed the authority was investigating the incident rather than the Health and Safety Executive, as the death happened on retail premises under its jurisdiction.

The spokesman said: "We’ll be supporting North Yorkshire Police with their investigation into this incident, and we'll carry out a health and safety accident investigation."

A spokesman for Wincanton, said: "We have lost a valuable member of our team and fully sympathise with our colleagues. We are supporting the police in their investigations into the incident and as such won’t be able to comment further until this has concluded.

"Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the deceased at this difficult time."