Richard Ellis

I am Joanne ANDREWS, Area Coroner for the coroner area of West Sussex, Brighton and Hove

I opened an investigation on 31 October 2023 into the death of Richard Ellis which concluded by the inquest. The findings in relation to section 5 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 were:   Richard  Ellis  died  on  23  October  2023  at  Harwoods  Green  Lane,  Stopham,  West Sussex from injuries he sustained when a tractor struck him. The tractor was being used  to  tow  the  deceased’s  stranded  vehicle  up  an  incline.  Having  freed  the deceased’s vehicle, whilst still on the incline facing downhill, the tractor stopped towing and was held on its handbrake. At that time the tractor’s handbrake failed allowing the tractor to roll forwards into the deceased who was removing the tow strap attaching his vehicle to the tractor.

The  deceased  was  contracted  to  collect  an electricity  generator  from  a property which was accessed via a track on a country Estate (“Estate”). The deceased was using an Isuzu pick up (“Isuzu”) and trailer to do so. He collected the generator from the property but due to the narrow nature of the track, he was unable to turn his vehicle around to drive out forwards. Therefore, he reversed down the track with the trailer. During this manoeuvre he became stuck on an incline facing upwards as the wheels of the Isuzu and trailer had become stuck in a ditch which ran alongside the track. The deceased therefore sought assistance from local Estate workers as he needed to be towed out. The Estate workers went to the location where the deceased had become stuck with a 1996 Valmet 8130 tractor (“Tractor”) which was owned by the landowner. The Estate workers placed the Tractor facing downhill pointing towards the front of the deceased’s Isuzu which was facing up the incline. The trailer was detached at that time. A strap was attached between the front of the Isuzu and the front of the Tractor. The Tractor reversed and pulled the Isuzu from the ditch. The Isuzu became free whilst still on the incline. The deceased and Tractor driver both got out of their vehicles and detached  the towing  strap.  The Tractor  driver  had placed  the handbrake  on the Tractor prior to leaving the cab. The Tractor handbrake then failed and allowed the Tractor to roll down the incline onto its driver and the deceased. The deceased sadly died at the scene from his injuries. The handbrake was examined after the incident which demonstrated that the pawl of the handbrake was significantly worn and would likely have slipped previously. The evidence of the Tractor driver was that he had no concerns about the operation of the handbrake prior to this event.   The Tractor had last been serviced in 2021 but the evidence that I heard was that it was not a legal requirement for there to be any prescribed maintenance or servicing of tractors solely used for agricultural, horticultural or forestry.

During the course of the investigation my inquiries revealed matters giving rise to concern. In my opinion there is a risk that future deaths could occur unless action is taken.  In the circumstances it is my statutory duty to report to you. The MATTERS OF CONCERN are as follows: (brief summary of matters of concern) The  evidence  was  that  there  are  no  legal  requirements  for  the  servicing  and maintenance of agricultural tractors which do not fall within the requirements of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and the associated regulations. As such, the maintenance of these vehicles is dependent on the discretion of the vehicle owners.

In my opinion action should be taken to prevent future deaths and I believe you (and/or your organisation) have the power to take such action.