The manager of a Surrey shop that hired out a petrol-driven pump to the family of a seven-year-old boy believed to have died from toxic fumes during severe flooding was accused of “serious failures” at a Woking inquest.
Zane Gbangbola died after being found unconscious in his bed at his Chertsey home during winter storms in the early hours of 8 February 2014, following an incident that also left his father, Kye Gbangbola, 50, paralysed from the waist down and in a wheelchair.
The coroner, Richard Travers, has said the fact that the schoolboy died from toxic fumes is unlikely to be contested. His family believe Zane may have died from deadly hydrogen cyanide gas which seeped into their home in flood water from a nearby lake that was a former landfill site. A competing theory is that he died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Zane’s mother, Nicole Lawler, 39, hired the petrol pump from Surrey Hire and Sales Ltd in Addlestone as a back-up in case they lost electricity and the pumps at their Victorian home could not be used, the inquest has heard.
The petrol pump was set up in case it was needed but was not used, she said. She had been given no safety instructions with it and claimed the shop staff had told her she could use it indoors as long as she kept a window open.
But the hire shop manager, Jerry Toogood, told the inquest he had told Lawler the pump should not be used indoors and that safety instructions were in a plastic envelope attached to the pump.
Leslie Thomas QC, for the family, asked Toogood: “Did you tell her anything about running engines in confined spaces?”
“No,” replied Toogood.
Thomas: “Did you tell her that the exhaust gas may be poisonous and exposure could lead to fatal effects?”
“No,” replied Toogood.
Asked why, Toogood replied: “Because the details are available within the instructions with the equipment for the customer to read.”
He agreed he had not explained further.
Thomas said: “But you’re the one with the knowledge. You’re the expert. You’re the hirer, the one with duty of care.”
Thomas continued: “I’m going to suggest to you, your version of events, which we dispute, the things you failed to do are serious. Your failures are serious failures. Do you accept that?”
Told by the coroner that he did not have to answer questions that might incriminate him, Toogood replied: “I don’t wish to answer that.”
Toogood agreed that he had not ticked the box on the hire form which confirmed safety instructions had been given to the customer. He said this was because it was a new practice and he forgot to tick the box.
Thomas told him: “I suggest this is indicative of your sloppy practice. You’re not concerned about procedures. You’re not concerned about explanations or safety.”
Toogood told the coroner he didn’t inquire where the pump was to be used, and he agreed it did not occur to him to make those inquiries.
Questioned by Chris Coltart QC, for Surrey Hire and Sales Ltd, Toogood said he gave a “clear and unambiguous response” when Lawler asked if the pump could be used indoors.
Stephen Dormer, owner of Surrey Hire and Sales Ltd, told the inquest when Lawler had asked if the pump could be used indoors: “I firstly answered and said no, and then Jerry [Toogood] said the same”.
The inquest, which is expected to last six weeks, continues.
