A soldier who was crushed to death when an eight-tonne Spartan armoured vehicle collapsed on his head while he was carrying out repairs would have survived if the Army had provided proper wooden supports, a coroner said yesterday.

In the latest criticism of the Ministry of Defence, Andrew Walker, the Oxfordshire Coroner, said that the death of Lance Corporal Sean Tansey, 26, of the Life Guards, Household Cavalry Regiment, during operations in southern Afghanistan in August 2006 was contributed to by neglect.

Mr Walker who has angered the MoD with a spate of highly critical comments on the state of equipment provided for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, said that the soldier would not have died if there had been only a couple of wooden planks available to place under the Spartan as a safeguard while he worked underneath the vehicle.

The inquest in Oxford was told that the only cushioning support available was old bits of pallet wood. The jack could lift a Ford Cortina, but not a Spartan, the coroner said.

Recording a narrative verdict, setting out the circumstances of the death, Mr Walker said: “The training and equipment were inadequate for the repair of this vehicle. Lance Corporal Tansey’s death was contributed to by neglect.”

The soldier, from Washington, Tyne and Wear, who had also served in Iraq, was repairing the Spartan, a reconnaissance vehicle, at a British base near Sangin in northern Helmand province when its supports collapsed. The Spartan pitched forward on to Lance Corporal Tansey’s head.

His comrades rushed to the rescue but the jack was not strong enough to lift the Spartan off his body, and they had to wait for a forklift truck to help.

The coroner was told that the wooden supports that would have saved his life were known as “skidding”. But none had been provided.

“I cannot begin to imagine the suffering of Lance Corporal Tansey’s family,” Mr Walker said. “It seems to me that from the beginning they understood that this was a tragedy that should not have happened.

“This court has heard evidence of the failure to provide basic equipment for the maintenance of vehicles, which has been described by one witness as amounting to a gross or serious failure,” the coroner added.

MoD lawyers acting for Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, applied to the High Court this month to stop coroners from making critical remarks, which the lawyers claimed were outside coroners’ legal remit.

At yesterday’s inquest, however, Mr Walker said that Corporal Tansey lost his life because the training and equipment were inadequate.

The court was told that the only other source of wood in the area was a nearby orchard.

But the coroner said: “This was a matter for the MoD. It shouldn’t be for soldiers to go foraging in a hostile environment to find chocks and skidding.”

Mr Walker said he would be writing to the ministry to ensure that skidding was included in all vehicle kits, and that troops were properly trained.

John Atherton, Lance Corporal Tansey’s 70-year-old grandfather, would not comment on the death of his grandson, but he said: “The constant flow of bodies coming back is so tragic.”

The MoD said: “We note the coroner’s comments and will ensure that lessons are learnt from this tragic incident.”

Fatal failings

Captain James Philippson
29, of 7 Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, died in Afghanistan, “outgunned” by the Taleban, and fighting without night-vision goggles. Andrew Walker accused the MoD of “unforgiveable” failure to provide the right equipment

Captain Daniel Wright
25, of the Queen’s Gurkha Signals, died in training when his parachute failed to open. Mr Walker said that if he had been given a radio he could have heard his instructors telling him how to open his reserve chute

Staff Sergeant Sharon Elliott 34, of the Intelligence Corps, Warrant Officer Lee Hopkins 35, of the Royal Corps of Signals, Corporal Ben Nowak 27, of 45 Commando Royal Marines, and Marine Jason Hylton 33, of 539 Assault Squadron Royal Marines, died in a boat on a waterway in Basra when a bomb exploded on a bridge. Mr Walker said that there had been a serious failure in procedures and he criticised the lack of bomb-jamming equipment on the boat

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