CRUSHED BY TANK: Lance Corporal Sean Tansey

A coroner yesterday accused the Government of neglecting its troops after hearing that a few cheap blocks of wood would have saved the life of a North-East soldier crushed beneath a tank he was repairing in Afghanistan.

Lance Corporal Sean Tansey, 26, was servicing a Spartan tank at a UK base near Sangin, in northern Helmand, when its supports collapsed and it fell on his head, an inquest heard.

Oxfordshire Coroner Andrew Walker said the 26-year-old from Washington, Wearside, would not have died if a couple of wooden "skidding" planks had been available to put under the vehicle as cushioning should it fall.

Recording a narrative verdict, Mr Walker said neglect by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had contributed to the soldier's death.

Mr Walker attacked the failure of training and equipment supplies, which he ruled caused the death of L Cpl Tansey on August 12, 2006, when he was serving in the Household Cavalry Regiment.

He said: "I cannot begin to imagine the suffering of Lance Corporal Tansey's family.

"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.

"It is quite unfair that the soldiers should be criticised when their training was not adequate and their equipment was not sufficient. For this reason Lance Corporal Tansey lost his life."

Expert Lee Hodges had told the inquest that the cushioning planks, known as "skidding", employed to stop falling vehicles crushing soldiers, would have saved the young man's life.

Lance Corporal Edward Sampson, who was helping to repair the tank's broken torsion bar on that day, told the court: "There was a big clunk. The vehicle pitched forward and Sean's head was underneath it."

He said the team had only some bits of old pallet to cushion any potential vehicle fall.

The coroner said: "The soldiers are caught between a rock and a hard place. If they repair a vehicle and it results in tragedy they face criticism for it, but they have no alternative but to make repairs.

"These are bits of wood - they are not expensive. The expert has said that had there been skidding material underneath this wouldn't have happened."

Mr Walker said he would be using his powers to recommend that the MoD ensured the death featured in an hour-long addition to soldiers' repair training.

He said he would also be writing to ensure that skidding was included in all vehicle kits.

The court also heard there was no adequate jack for L Cpl Tansey's comrades to lift the vehicle off his body, and they had to wait for a passing forklift truck to help them.

The jack they had could only lift a Ford Cortina on a household drive, the coroner noted. Fighting back tears, Mr Tansey's grandfather, John Atherton, 70, spoke briefly after the verdict.

"The constant flow of bodies coming back is so tragic," he said. Mr Atherton chose not to comment further outside the courtroom about the death of his grandson.

The Junior Non-Commissioned Officer had previously served in Iraq.

His commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Edward Smyth-Osbourne, said: "L Cpl Tansey was a bright and intelligent soldier, an extremely competent and utterly dependable operator."

An MoD spokesman said: "Our thoughts and sympathies are with the family, friends and colleagues of Lance Corporal Sean Tansey at this difficult time.

"The Ministry of Defence was immensely saddened by his death in Sangin, Afghanistan, on 12 August 2006.

"Alongside the findings of the Royal Military Police and Ministry of Defence's own investigations, we note the coroner's comments and we will ensure that lessons are learnt from this tragic incident."

2:03am Saturday 29th March 2008

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