Star Wars production firm admits safety breach over Harrison Ford's broken leg

A Star Wars production company has admitted to safety breaches which lead to Harrison Ford breaking his leg on the set of The Force Awakens.

Foodles Productions LTD, which is owned by Disney, has pleaded guilty to two criminal charges over the on-set accident, which took place back in June 2014.

After pleading guilty to the charges at Milton Keynes Magistrates' Court, the company will be sentenced at Aylesbury Crown Court on 22 August.

Ford, 74, was hit by a hydraulic door, which was the ‘weight of a small car’ while filming a scene on board the Millennium Falcon at Pinewood Studios.

Prosecutor Andrew Marshall told the court that Ford had walked through the door during filming before pressing a button.

Believing the set was not live and the door would not close, he began to walk back through it.

But the door was being remotely operated by someone else and it hit Ford in the pelvic area and pinned him to the ground.

Mr Marhsall said that there was a “risk of death. It could have killed somebody. The fact that it didn't was because an emergency stop was activated.”

A spokesperson for Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which brought the prosecution, said that Ford was “badly injured after he became trapped under a rapidly closing metal-framed door.

“This was a foreseeable incident."

"Foodles Production (UK) Ltd has accepted it failed to protect actors and staff and HSE welcomes the firm’s guilty plea.”

Two other charges were withdrawn.