Patrick Finlay thinks he is one of the luckiest people alive

He says: "Being a survivor is a very strange one. You have euphoria in one hand and absolute dismay in the other."

Now the 28-year-old father of one has spoken exclusively to the Daily Echo about his terrifying ordeal which happened just two weeks before 30 year-old Christopher Shute drowned in the tank.

He has questioned why not enough steps were taken to avoid the tragic death at the Swaythling Transit van plant.

Patrick said: "I had not known Christopher for a very long time but I knew him as another contractor on site. I knew him as a nice guy.

"That is the only way you can describe him. He always had time. He was just one of the good guys."

This week, Southampton born Patrick, who is a filtration engineer, was leaving the Ford plant where he has worked for four years.

He and wife Nicola, 28, and nine-year-old daughter Madelaine will next month be leaving their Millbrook, Southampton, home and heading to Tenerife, where they are looking forward to settling down to a new life.

It was nearly three years ago that the tragedy struck the Ford plant but this week's Winchester Crown Court case has brought memories of that black summer day and his own escape flooding back.

Christopher drowned in the tank after trying to stop the 30-yard long paint collector overflowing.

Just two weeks before, Patrick had to be rescued after falling backwards into the tank.

Fortunately the tank, which is like a giant swimming pool, was only half full of paint - otherwise, Patrick says he would almost certainly have met the same fate as Christopher.

This week, as Ford were fined a total of £300,000 with £46,688 costs for two breaches of the Health and Safety Act, the judge spoke of the accident waiting to happen.

Mr Justice Stuart McKinnon said: "This was an entirely unnecessary accident and death and one which was waiting to happen given the unrestricted access to the tank, slippery conditions, the removal of lids which were taken off and not replaced and overfoaming."

Patrick says that his accident should have sounded loud alarm bells and that there were significant safety failings with the tank, which was the first of its kind in the country.

He said: "I do not think that Ford buried its head in the sand. Nobody ever wants this sort of tragic accident to happen. But I do feel it could have been avoided."

Christopher had been called in to inspect the tank because of over-foaming problems, which had caused the paint to spill up through open lids.

The court heard how he got off a ladder and then on top of the tank.

An eyewitness saw him go to the centre of the tank. He then took one or two steps and disappeared.

The tank was drained and the rescue operation got under away. An ambulance crew was called but attempts to revive him failed.

Christopher, who lived in Winchester Road, Shirley, Southampton, worked for Philip Services (Europe) Limited.

Its two managers, Peter Preston, 51, of Rowen Park, Blackburn, and Paul McKenzie, of 55, Beechwood Avenue, Hartford, Cheshire, were this week each fined £5,000 after pleading guilty to failing to ensure the safety of a colleague.

Up until the time of the accident Patrick said there had been no view among workers about the EPOC tank system, which collects the paint overspray from the vans.

Patrick said: "It came in when the paint shop was built about four years ago and it always appeared to do its job okay."

But he said that things started to go wrong just before the summer shutdown - about three to four weeks before Christopher's accident.

Patrick said: "For some reason it was foaming a great deal. There must have at some point been a chemical reaction in the tank. Paint just does not bubble over for nothing. It was like washing up liquid but this was a paint foam.

"It was just basically bubbling up through the tank and spilling over the top. This stuff is messy."

He said that on the top of tank was a grid system of steel supporting the lids. But there did not appear to be anything to stop the lids from sliding around.

Patrick's working duties did not normally bring him into contact with this particular system.

He said: "At the time it was shutdown so my normal job did not exist. My boss asked me if I would go and jet wash the top of this tank which to me was not a problem.

"The day I went up there it had foamed at some previous date and because of that the top of the tank was very slimy and slippery.

"I had washed over about 20 lids and was moving back into the next section and still had a fair way to go. A friend came up at about 1pm and was giving me a hand.

"There were lids up on their sides and I had to put them down to wash them over. But when you were treading on a lid it would only take a slight movement and it would flip.

"I thought to myself, 'I better be a bit careful here. This could be a bit dangerous. These lids could flip'.

"I went to say something to my friend and the next thing I knew the lid I was stood on flipped and I fell back into the tank. The steel lid which is six feet by three feet and weighs about 20 kilos came down on top of me.

"I fell in all the way but at the time there was only three feet of paint in there. It was like emulsion and it was like swimming through a big vat of paint."

Then Patrick described the terrifying moment when he thought he was trapped.

He said: "I was lying on the bottom of the tank with the lid on top of me. This was the most harrowing moment because I had the weight of the lid and the paint pinning me down."

"I managed to prise the lid off me and stood up. But I thought I had broken my legs because I could not move."

He went on: "I just hung on like dear life to the steel work above until they got the ladder down to me."

Patrick said: "I got out with the help of my friend and the Ford fire team.

"The ladder was put down and I climbed out. It happened so fast."

Covered head to toe in paint, he was taken to the factory's medical centre where he was able to shower and clean up.

As he fell into the tank Patrick had taken a "panic gulp" of paint and he needed lots of water to get rid of the foul taste.

It was while he was in the medical centre that he was visited by Ford management.

Patrick said: "I said to this particular manager that I was very lucky and had the tank been full up I do not think I would have been able to get out of it.

"Our conversation lasted for about ten minutes.

"I felt that I had done right by telling Fords that it was dangerous. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that anyone would be injured or killed. I thought it was a one-off incident."

Patrick was taken to hospital for a further check up and spent two days at home before returning to work.

He said: "There may have been more investigations but I was not personally involved."

Patrick said that when he went back to work some barrier tape had been put round the ladders and long boards were put across the top of the tank to finish the cleaning work.

Patrick was on nights when Christopher was killed.

He said: "The first thing I knew was when I got a phone call at home telling me what happened.

"I was summoned to come in straight away because the Health and Safety were on site. I was interviewed for a good hour and a half to two hours.

"I had to go and show them the tank and take them through the whole of my accident."

Since the tragedy a series of safety measures have been introduced and Patrick says: "There is no possible way anyone could ever fall in there again."

Patrick praised the way Ford had improved safety at the Swaythling plant.

He said: "Ford have done their level best to improve safety and the health and safety department has worked wonders. It is now the safest car plant in Europe."

Patrick says he has been left with a sense of guilt over the tragic loss of a popular work colleague.

He added: "You always think that you could have done more. If I shouted louder about the inadequacies of the system, perhaps it might have been avoided."

Commenting on the incident involving Mr Finlay, a Ford spokesman said: "There was an incident relating to the cleaning of the tank in early August, 2000.

"A cleaner working on top of the tank fell into it during a cleaning process.

"The cleaner suffered no injury and the tank was not operational at the time. However, as a result of the incident the method of cleaning the tank was totally changed.

"While steps were taken to prevent future accidents these subsequently proved to be insufficient."

And in a statement on the fatal accident the Ford spokesman added: "Ford has fully co-operated with the authorities throughout their investigation into this tragic accident.

"More over we have conducted our own investigation and taken action to prevent a similar incident at Swaythling or any of our other plants.

"This has included terminating Philip as the on site contractor, fitting locked gates and warning notices, removing covers from the top of the tank and installing a walkway, ensuring additional safety equipment is available and further restricting access to only those who have an authorised Permit to Work certificate.

"Moreover the new contractor has brought the foaming concern under control and anti-foaming agent, where necessary, is added automatically and foam levels monitored externally.

"There is therefore no need in normal operating conditions for anyone to go to the top of the tank.

"We have also assessed every similar tank to the EPOC tank at all our relevant facilities across the world to ensure we have no repeat of this accident."

Last year at a court hearing Haden Drysys International Limited, the tank's designer, were fined £10,000 for breaching health and safety rules.