FATAL INJURIES

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 130, 14 March 1936, Page 6

FATAL INJURIES

DEATH OF MR G. E. COLDICOTT. STRUCK HEAD UNDER LORRY. FINDING AT THE INQUEST. An inquest into the circumstances of the death of Mr George Ernest Coldicott, a married man, aged 46 years, who died on Thursday morning as a result of injuries received in an accident in. a shingle pit near Methven a week earlier, was held in the Ashburton Courthouse last evening before the District Coroner (Mr E. C. Bathurst). Sergeant J. F. Cleary conducted the case for the Police. Mr W. H. Woods appeared on behait of the relatives, Mr G. C. deC Drury on behalf of the insurance company concerned, and Mr R. Kennedy on behalf of the Ashburton County Council, by whom Mr Coldicott was employed. Evidence of identification was given ■by William John Coldicott, of Titnaru, brother of deceased. 0 C. J. M. Gunning, lorry driver for the County Council, said that on March 5 he was in a shingle pit four miles from Methven, with the lorry parallel to the pit face and about four feet from the face. The side of the pit was about 10 feet high and was composed of ordinary pit shingle. There was no overhang "and it was reasonably firm, ■appearing to be safe. Archie McPherson was working near the front of the lorry!, Coldicott was about the centre, witness was working further back, and a fourth man, Ede, was behind him. Witness noticed a movement in the pit face and shouted. Ede and McPherson jumped clear. For a distance of 36 feet the face fell from a height of about six feet, with a thickness of up to 18 inches. There had been no warning that there would be a fall. Witness and. ■Coldicott were caught in the fall and witness was carried against the side of the lorry, but was not thrown down. He was only bruised. He was dug dear by Ede and McPherson and he then saw Coldicott lying with his head well under the truck, and with the shingle about up to his shoulders. Coldicott’s head was close to the oil pump of the hydraulic hoise. Witness saw a scalp wound on Coldicott, and there was blood on the ground. He took it that Coldicott had struck Ins head on the oil pump easing, as he dived under the truck. In the act of stooping he had probably been struck by the falling shingle, which had forced him under the lorry. There was hair and flesh and the casing. A doctor was called and arrived in about half an hour. Witness had experience of shingle pits over about nine years and he had never known a fall like that one. The fall comprised 24 cubic yards of shingle, wet from recent rain.

Dr. A, J. Mason (Medical Superintendent at the Ashburton Public Hospital, stated that Coldicott was admitted to the hospital in a stuperose condition suffering from a fracture of the right collarbone and a depressed fracture of the skull on the left side toward the back with a scalp wound: overlying it about 3J inches long. A perforation of the membrances of the brain, was found, with laceration and contusion of the brain beneath. Coldicott made fair progress, with a return of consciousness, till the morning of March 11 when his condition underwent a sudden change and became progressively worse, culminating in his death the following morning. Death was due to the laceration of the brain accompanied by a depressed fracture of the skull.

Corroborative evidence in regard to the incidents in the pit was given by Archilbald McPherson and George Ede. To Mr Drury, Ede said that none of the men saw whpt actually happened after Gunning gave the warning, so far as Coldicott was concerned. There had been no hint of danger in working in the pit. The Coroner returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence.