Two soldiers were killed in an explosion in a tank on a British firing range after a warrant officer was given a “guest experience” ride in the armed vehicle, an inquest was told.
No written authorisation had been given for the guest experience, a vital piece of equipment was not in place in the tank and charges were apparently not stowed correctly away, the inquest was told.
Cpls Matthew Hatfield and Darren Neilson of the Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) died in the incident at Castlemartin range in Pembrokeshire in June last year.
Their inquest was told that witnesses heard a hiss and saw smoke and flames coming from the turret of the Challenger 2 tank.
Neilson, the tank commander, was seen climbing out from the turret and was thrown some distance by the force of the explosion. Hatfield, the loader, was trapped inside the tank. Both men, who were experienced veterans of both the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, suffered fatal injuries.
Another man, a warrant officer called Stuart Lawson who worked at the firing range, was also in the tank and suffered serious burns but survived.
The inquest in Solihull was told that Lawson had asked the RTR if he could go in the tank. On the morning of the incident he told his boss, Maj John Poole, that he was going to “fire a tank”.
Poole told the inquest that he did not take his colleague seriously. “I said: ‘We don’t do that sort of thing any more.’ It was a fleeting conversation.”
The major was in a control tower when the incident happened. He told the inquest the command: “Stop, stop, stop” came in and he had dialled 999 and called for “at least two air ambulances”.
Only later did he realise that Lawson was in the tank. Poole told the senior coroner, Louise Hunt, that he had said to Lawson that he could not go in a tank because he was not trained as a gunner and because guest experiences no longer happened on cost grounds.
The inquest was told that a military document called “Pamphlet 21” suggests that “guest experiences” should have written authorisation. Poole said he did not believe written authorisation was given that day.
But the inquest was told that Lt Col Simon Ridgway, commanding officer of the RTR, had given permission for Lawson to be in the tank.
In a statement on his decision, he said he had judged there was “genuine military justification” for it. Ridgway argued it would give Lawson a better understanding of what it was like to be in a tank – and hence enable him to make improvements to the range.
The inquest was also told an issue that would be considered was how ammunition and charges were stored.
Poole was also asked if charges were always stored away properly in tanks. He said that as a young tank soldier he had not always done this.
It emerged that in a statement he made when the incident was investigated, Poole said: “To think those boys stowed those bag charges incorrectly is a little disappointing to be honest I would have thought they’d have known better.”
He added: “Whether they were trying to show off to Mr Lawson, or trying to get through it (firing) as quickly as possible, I don’t know.”
When asked if he was aware of the practice by other crews, he responded: “Well, we’re here because somebody else hasn’t stored charges correctly.” Since the incident, he said the gunnery school had made changes to the way charges were stowed.
DS Matthew Briggs, of Dyfed Powys police, told the inquest that on the morning of the incident the tank involved had been used in a routine crew testing exercise.
When the tank was examined, it was found that a piece of equipment known as a “BVA assembly” was not in place. This may have contributed to the explosion, the court heard.
At the start of the inquest family members paid tribute to the two men who died, who were both fathers. Hatfield’s fiance, Jill McBride, said he was a perfect father who loved to show his daughter the tanks he worked with. Neilson’s wife, Jemma, said he was “army through and through”.
The inquest continues.
