An Army officer on a training exercise was struck and killed by a reversing armoured Warrior vehicle whose vital safety alarm was not working, an inquest has heard. Lieutenant Max George, 26, died instantly after exiting the vehicle on Salisbury Plain in June 2022.
Wiltshire and Swindon Coroner’s Court heard the alarm, designed to alert the driver when the Warrior’s rear doors were open, had been faulty since 2018. Lt George, from County Durham, was fatally injured after the Warrior’s commander gave the order to reverse at speed without realising he was still exiting.
Exercise and Known Faults
Members of 5 Rifles were taking part in Exercise Combat Spirit when the incident happened, the inquest was told. Lieutenant Colonel Graham Watson, who led a service inquiry into the incident, said alarms were installed after two fatal incidents in the 1990s.
He said several faults with the Warrior were known about, but none meant the vehicle should have been taken out of service. “One was the rear door alarm cable had snapped, which was first identified on June 20, 2018,” Col Watson said. “The second one was the rear door locking plunger would not release and is stuck, which meant that the rear doors could not be locked in position. The third fault was the repetition of the first fault that the rear door alarm cable was snapped and required renewing or repairing. Those matters were ‘fully fit’ faults, which at the time of the accident was not incorrect.”
Sequence of Events
The inquest heard two groups of soldiers were converging on a target and Lt George was ordered to take command on the ground. As the Warrior halted, the gunner threw a smoke grenade and Lt George was ordered to exit.
“Lt George exited the vehicle and was seen momentarily struggling either with a day sack or trying to free a radio antenna which may have snagged,” Col Watson said. “He then went to grab his weapon which was still inside the vehicle and simultaneously the student commander commanded the gunner to reverse the turret to the right in the direction of the enemy. The student commander checked through the periscopes and could no longer see the open doors, or Lt George at the rear of the vehicle. Believing Lt George was clear the student commander commanded the driver to reverse. Lt George was still at the rear reaching for his weapon. He was knocked to the ground.”
Col Watson said between 38 and 43 seconds elapsed between the Warrior stopping and the collision. “There were several attempts by those who witnessed the accident to warn of the impending danger, people shouted, waved their hands, sounded their horn, unfortunately to no avail,” Col Watson added.
Vehicle Differences and Ongoing Inquest
Lt George’s exit from the vehicle created a “clunking noise”, which may have led the vehicle commander to assume he was clear and had shut the doors, the officer said. “This was part of his reasoning to why he gave the command for the vehicle to reverse after he waited a few seconds after hearing the clunk and not seeing anything at the rear,” Col Watson said. “The built in alarm would have alarmed because the rear doors were open, and had that gone off the driver would have almost certainly stopped. In addition on the driver’s instrument panel, because the rear doors were open there should have been a light, but again because the wiring loop was damaged that didn’t light up.”
The inquest heard the exercise was using two types of Warrior – the FV-510 and FV-511 models – and Lt George’s vehicle was not ordinarily used for disembarking troops and close combat. “The student commander had done the majority of his training on the FV-510, which is the platoon variant of the vehicle,” Col Watson said. “In general, the crew and service personnel within 5 Rifles were not that familiar with the FV-511 and its differences with the FV-510. The training objectives could still be met but by providing the wrong type of vehicles, that should have triggered additional control measures to be put in place to ensure the risk was as low as reasonably practicable.”
The inquest continues.
