A man was killed after he was crushed by the caravan he was fixing outside his home.
Douglas Pearce, 65, was fixing the brakes on his large Sterling caravan outside his property in Testlands Avenue, Nursling, having jacked up the vehicle and supported it on an axle stand.
But the vehicle became dislodged and fell onto Mr Pearce, causing severe chest injuries and preventing him from breathing for several minutes.
He was rushed to Southampton General Hospital but had sustained irreversible brain damage and died a few days later.
The accident was witnessed by neighbour Stephen Angel, of Homefield Drive, Nursling, who was out walking his dog, an inquest heard.
Mr Angel said: “I did not see anything happen as I was about 30-40 yards away but I heard a crash and a groan and I knew something was up.
“I had a suspicion of what had happened. If I had just heard the crash I would not have worried but because I heard a person groaning in agony I knew something was going on.”
He found Mr Pearce and alerted the former telephone engineer’s wife – who was inside the house – and nearby neighbours after the accident on August 29.
In a statement, Mrs Pearce, married to her husband for 44 years, said she was indoors and heard a noise but did not realise what had happened.
She said: “I was doing the ironing and heard a noise but I had the radio on and was not sure what it was because it wasn’t loud.
“Then I heard a knock on my door and had my neighbour tell me to ring for an ambulance.”
The inquest heard the caravan handbrake was not applied but a mechanised ‘friction wheel’ stabiliser was working. The vehicle was also on a slight slope, which may have affected its balance.
Grahame Short, Coroner for Central Hampshire, presiding, said: “It’s unclear precisely what happened as to why the caravan moved off its axle stand. I believe there was insufficient support for the van and it twisted and fell onto him as he carried out work.”
He recorded a verdict of accidental death and said it was a tragic incident.
Any work that entails taking a wheel off then, the van should be hitched to the car.This might not stop it coming off an axle stand but will stop it piviting
If I am working under a vehicle or the camper in the workshop, after I jack it up onto the axle stands and before I go under the unit, I make two piles of old wheels with their tyres and put one on each side of where I will be working and beneath the chassis.
These piles are high enough to give me room to escape If anything does go wrong.
Unfortunately a chap I knew had to die in similar circumstances to Mr Pearce before I learned this lesson.
Very sad news, Such a shame, My sympathy to Mr pearce's family.
I remember a while back servicing the brakes on my old caravan and thinking that the van might be a bit unstable jacked up. I ended up hooking the caravan up to the car and jacking the van up one side at a time. I got away with it but this story really makes you think twice about doing such jobs.
So easy to happen, so quickly to occur. Yet on hindsight we may not of done this as Mr Pearce did, but have we done anything else in our past where we could think back now & realise an accident could of happened.
What a horrible thing to happen to anyone, and be seen still under it by loved ones as his wife must of seen until it could be got off of her lovely husband of 44 years.I hope she can get the picture out of her mind, it will not be easy done.
Thoughts go out ot her & man who found him and could do nothing. Very tragic.
Very sad. My eldest son's father died in very similar circumstance. He was working on his boss's car and it slipped off the axle stands and crushed him.
My OH is a mechanic and I always panic when he works under vehicles as I know how quickly these tradgedies can occur.
Same, my BIL died at 34 when a Citreon he was working on crushed him when it fell on him. Because of the hydraulic suspension he didn't stand a chance.
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Topic: Man killed while fixing caravan`s brakes
