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BRITISH Waterways has made a dramatic U-turn on the Coroner's 'rule 43' report following the death of Wendy Brennan, writes Allan Richards.
Following a denial that it responded to the report, it now admits that it wrote to the Coroner asking him to change his report. The coroner refused to do so.
Tree cutting programme
It was Transition Trustee, John Dodwell, who unwittingly started the ball rolling by citing a large tree cutting programme (valued at £2.2m) this winter as an example of British Waterways saving money. British Waterways' tree cutting programme was linked with the death of Wendy Brennan, and a Freedom of Information request identified that the Milton Keynes Coroner, Tom Osbourne, had issued a 'rule 43' report following an inquest into that death.
[Coroners may issue 'rule 43' reports following an inquest to prevent future deaths. A person who receives such a report must provide a written response.]
Wendy Brennan died in 2010 when on a boating holiday with her son and husband. She was forced under water when a willow tree crashed down onto their Wyvern Shipping Company hire boat on the Grand Union Canal at Stoke Hammond. Her husband and son were also thrown into the water but managed to drag themselves to safety.
Criticisms
At the two day inquest following her death James Griffin, the owner of Wyvern Shipping Company, who had hired the boat to Mrs Brennan's party, was particularly vocal in his criticism of British Waterways' tree management procedures, and made his views very clear to the coroner.
His criticisms were more recently echoed by narrowboatworld reader, Simon Grindrod, (mooring warden at Camden visitor moorings on the Regents Canal and the former owner of Myark Tree Care who undertook tree work for British Waterways) who often reported dangerous trees. He told narrowboatworld:
'I have reported dead, dying or dangerous trees on my mooring on repeated occasions. Since reporting them (repeatedly) two have fallen. One onto a boat the other, a mature but very dead ash tree fell length wise along the towpath. Both trees had very visible signs of decay.
'The end result of either of these trees falling could have been death or injury. It would seem that the only tree work now undertaken is reactive maintenance which is not only expensive but very dangerous.
'We still have dead trees on the mooring which is very close to Camden Lock, the public and boaters are still in danger on what must be one of the busiest bits of towpath in the country. Do we need a death or a sunk boat to actually make British Waterway take note of the state of its tree stock?'
Rule 43 report
The coroner's report was addressed to the Waterways Minister, Richard Benyon, with copies to British Waterways' Operations Director, Vince Moran, and others. The report briefly described the circumstances leading to Mrs Brennan's death with the Coroner adding:
'During the course of the evidence before me, it was clear there had been failings in the tree management system operated by British Waterways, although I did not consider that such failing, in this instance, contributed to the death of Mrs Brennan. I believe however, to ensure that similar deaths do not occur in the future, that there should be an urgent review of the tree management systems at British Waterways...'
The report also suggested that consideration be given to providing a database for all organisations that manage trees to enable the public to report a 'dangerous tree' and allow feedback.
Minister's response
The minister responded by reporting to the coroner the actions taken regarding a 'dangerous tree database'. In relation to the coroner's request for an urgent review of British Waterways' tree management system, the minister informed him that British Waterways had already carried out such a review adding:
'They concluded that their tree management system was thorough and robust, a conclusion which I understand has been supported by the Health and Safety Executive'.
No documentation
One would have thought that British Waterways would have the documentation to back up the ministers response. However, this does not appear to be the case. A request for a copy of the output from British Waterways' internal review of it's tree management system has confirmed that no such report exists.
British Waterways has also failed to provide output from the Health and Safety Executive that supports its 'thorough and robust' conclusion.
U-turn
What is even more staggering is that British Waterways has made a complete U-turn regarding its response to the Coroner. Having previously taken the position that no response was necessary because the report was addressed to the waterways minister, British Waterways is now saying that it did reply asking the Coroner to withdraw his report and reissue one that 'accurately reflected his summing up'.
British Waterways further state that the coroner refused to do so.
[An offer from British Waterways to provide a full transcript of the inquest has been accepted.] |
