An inquest has heard that an Army officer was struck and killed by a reversing armoured vehicle whose safety alarm was faulty. Second Lieutenant Max George, 26, died instantly when the collision happened on Salisbury Plain during a training exercise in June 2022.
Lt George was exiting the Warrior armoured vehicle when the commander ordered it to reverse at speed without realising the 26-year-old was still behind it. Wiltshire and Swindon Coroner's Court was told the vehicle had an alarm that should have alerted the driver when the Warrior's rear doors were open, but it had been broken since 2018.
Faults known before the accident
Lieutenant Colonel Graham Watson, who led a service inquiry into the incident, said alarms were installed after two fatal incidents in the 1990s. He told the court that several faults with the Warrior were known about, but none meant the vehicle should have been taken out of service.
He said: "One was the rear door alarm cable had snapped, which was first identified on June 20, 2018. 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 the collision
Lt George, from County Durham, was part of 5 Rifles and had been ordered to take command on the ground as two groups of soldiers were converging on a target during Exercise Combat Spirit. As the Warrior halted, the gunner threw a smoke grenade and Lt George was ordered to exit.
Col Watson said: "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. 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 he was clear, the commander ordered the driver to reverse, and Lt George, still at the rear reaching for his weapon, was knocked to the ground.
Between 38 and 42 seconds elapsed between the Warrior stopping and the collision. Col Watson added: "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."
Faulty alarm and safety case
When Lt George exited the Warrior, he made a "clunking noise", which the court heard may have led the commander to believe he was clear and had shut the doors. Col Watson 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."
He added: "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 used 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. Col Watson told the court that the student commander had done most of his training on the FV-510, and that crew and service personnel within 5 Rifles were not that familiar with the FV-511 and its differences. The training objectives could still be met, but providing the wrong type of vehicles should have triggered additional control measures.
The service inquiry found two causal factors, 22 contributory factors and 22 other factors in Lt George's death. Col Watson said: "The fact a rear door safety alarm had been fitted to rectify issues discovered in 1998 and 1999 was right and proper, but the fact there was not a maintenance regime that ensured that alarm worked was a flaw and a safety case. It was not a high priority. It was not a conscious decision to make it a 'fully fit' fault. I personally believe it was an oversight not to make it a limited role or a not task worthy role. It was a flawed safety case."
Tributes to Lt George
Lt George's mother, Vivienne, wrote a pen portrait for her son, which was read during the hearing. She described the 26-year-old as "modest and great fun" and revealed he had won the Queen's Medal for best cadet when he passed out from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, BBC reports.
He was awarded a first in politics with Russian at Newcastle University and obtained a Distinction in his Masters in Eastern European and Eurasian Studies with Russian at the University of Glasgow. His mother said: "Max had effortless leadership qualities and his potential was enormous. His loss has left a hole in our lives, he was the very best of all of us." The inquest continues.
