Exeter City council is to face a jury trial after denying that safety failings led to the death of an 80-year-old grandmother who fell off a ferry.
Dorothy Stevens, from Silverton, near Exeter, died in July 2010 after her walking stick broke as she was getting off the historic Butts Ferry in the centre of the city.
The hand-pulled chair ferry on Exeter Quay is operated by Exeter City Council, which is facing prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive over the death.
A trial date has been set for December 2 this year, after the council's barrister Mr Ian Dixey indicated they intend to plead not guilty to the charge when the case is heard at Exeter Crown Court.
They are accused of failing to conduct the ferry safely because they had not done everything reasonably practical to ensure the safety of those getting on and off.
The charge alleges they exposed members of the public, including Mrs Stevens to unnecessary risks.
Judge Francis Gilbert, QC, adjourned the case and set a timetable for the exchange of experts' reports.
The council was not required to make a plea to the existing charge because its wording may be amended before the trial date.
At present it alleges they: "Failed to discharge the duty imposed on it by the Health & Safety At Work Act in that it failed to conduct its undertaking, namely the means of access to and egress from the Butts Ferry, in such a way as to ensure so far as was reasonably practicable, that persons not in its employment who may have been affected, including Dorothy Stevens, were not thereby exposed to risks."
The case is expected to concentrate on allegations by the HSE that the steps from the ferry were at inconsistent heights and there were not enough hand rails.
An inquest in April last year heard how frail arthritis patient Mrs Stevens drowned after falling into the River Exe as she got off the ferry during a heavy squall of rain.
Her collapsible walking stick snapped as she moved from the ferry to the shore and she toppled backwards into the water in front of her daughter and granddaughter.
She was pulled from the river but could not be revived despite the efforts of people who jumped in to save her.
Deputy coroner Mr Darren Salter recorded a verdict of accidental death.
At the time, her family described her death as horrendous and said she would be missed enormously.
She was well known in Silverton, as a long-standing member of the Women's Institute and Over-60s club.
