Herefordshire | Archive | 2005 | January | 31
From the archive, first published Monday 31st Jan 2005.
AN apparently straightforward farming job ended in tragedy for a young Herefordshire man, an inquest heard.
Andrew Henry Pursey, of Trevase Farm, St Owen's Cross, was working alone transferring fertiliser from one tractor to another on his family's land at Orcop when he was crushed between the two vehicles while the engines were running.
At yesterday's (Wednesday) inquest in Hereford it was revealed that the 21-year-old university graduate had failed to put on the park brake and died from acute hypoxia due to a compression injury.
His father Roger Pursey, who found his son at Bettws Court last September, said Andrew was an experienced farmer.
"Andrew had been around that kind of machinery all his life and had passed his tractor test," he said.
Mr Pursey explained that emptying fertiliser bags was a quick job and that his son was probably trying to do too much too quickly.
"I think he was just trying to get as much done as possible before he went away for a year travelling around Australia with his friends," he added.
Accident investigator PC Nigel Phillips said that although the rough concrete surface appeared to be level at the site, tests proved the tractors could still jolt forward.
PC Phillips explained that once the Massey Ferguson tractor had started moving, Andrew would have had only a split second to react.
County coroner David Halpern said Andrew's misjudgment in thinking that there was no need to put on the park brake for such a simple job had disastrous consequences.
In recording a verdict of accidental death, he said: "I obviously hold many inquests and many of them are about tragic incidents. But I think this is a specifically tragic case. It would be wrong to criticise Andrew as the flat surface lulled him into a false sense of security."
© Newsquest Media Group 2008