Electrocuted teenager 'could have survived' if paramedics were sent to right address, inquest finds

• ITV Granada Reports journalist Rachel Pritchard has the latest from the inquest

A teenage footballer who was electrocuted while playing with his friends "could have survived" had it not been for a 999 error, a coroner has ruled.

Luke Bennett, 17, was struck by 11,000 volts when a metal pole he was holding above his head touched, or make close contact with, an overhead power line as he played football.

But, a failure by an emergency call handler to identify the address where Luke was meant an ambulance was delayed in reaching the "talented" teenager which, his inquest found, contributed to his death.

Paramedics took 21 minutes to reach Luke and his friends, and while the North West Ambulance Service call handler had access to a 'find my phone' button, they failed to utilise it, the inquest was told.

Delivering her narrative conclusion Area Coroner Kate Bisset described Luke's death as an "utter, utter tragedy".

She made a series of criticisms regarding the way the 999 call was handled and said had mistakes not been made then Luke, an academy youth player with AFC Fylde, would have survived.

"I am satisfied that it would have been reasonable to utilise the find my phone button to ascertain the correct address," she said.

"The correct address should have been identified which would affect the ambulance crews and I am satisfied that if the ambulance service had attended the correct address it is more likely than not that Luke would have survived."

The inquest, at County Hall in Preston, heard Luke had been playing football with seven of his friends at Euxton Villa FC near Chorley on 6 March 2021.

After having a kick-about Luke and two of his friends, Lewis Geszke and Ben Wilcock, began "messing about" with a seven-metre-long pole used to hold down the nets of the goal.

As the friends tried to raise the heavy pole it touched, or came within a few millimetres of, an overhead power line carrying 11,000 volts.

All three "dropped to the floor", and while Lewis and Ben regained consciousness Luke died at the scene.

His friends initially placed him in the recovery position, the inquest heard, but when they called 999 they were told not to touch him given that the electricity lines were still live.

Cardiac consultant, Ian Schofield, told the inquest there is a 10-minute window of opportunity to start CPR to ensure a good chance of survival, something which was missed due to ambulance delays.

However, both he, and Detective Inspector Chris Wellard from Lancashire Constabulary, said they were satisfied the advice given to the boys, telling them not to touch Luke, was appropriate and correct.

But the coroner ruled the advice from the 999 call handler not to touch Luke contributed to his death, and said they should have ascertained the electrical hazard was no longer present as the pole was not still touching the wires.

Graham Keyte, who has been chairman of Euxton Villa for the last 20 years, said Electricity North West had carried out regular inspections of the power lines.

He said the company has "never raised any concerns" about the football pitch being close to the cables.

The inquest heard that the three power lines over the land were at heights of 6.4 metres, 6.5 metres and 6.53 metres.

Power lines must be a minimum of 5.2 metres above the ground or any structure so with the height of the goal posts the clearance was 5.3 metres.

Mr Keyte added there had never been any incidents involving the metal pole, which is considerably heavy and requires two men to carry it horizontally, and that he "never foresaw" it being misused as it was on the day Luke died.

The pole has since been cut up and is no longer used.

Andrew Seager, an electrical inspector from the HSE, confirmed that Electricity North West schedules inspections of all power lines and infrastructure every 16 months.

The lines above Euxton Villa had last been inspected in May 2020 and was due to be re-inspected in November 2021.

Mr Seager was asked by Luke's family's barrister if he believed it was safe to have the metal pole at the end of the pitch as it was on the day he died.

"If it was being used as you would expect it to be used then you probably wouldn't recognise it as an immediate risk... on a football pitch I personally wouldn't," he replied.

Paul Turner, head of policy and standards at Electricity North West, said even if the metal pole had been seen by an inspector it would not be classed as a risk "given that the pole would require multiple persons to lift it and there would be no reason to lift it to a vertical position".

Mr Turner described Luke's death as occurring in "tragic and exceptional circumstances".

He added that "the reasonably foreseeable and intended use of a football pitch" and the pole would not be considered a risk.

Coroner Bisset agreed it was not reasonably foreseeable for Euxton Villa FC to have assessed that the pole presented a risk.

In a statement NWAS said it was "extremely sorry" it did not reach Luke "as quickly as we needed to" and has put measures and extra training in place.

It said: "This was an incredibly tragic case, and we are extremely sorry that we didn’t reach Luke as quickly as we needed to despite the best intentions of everyone involved. We offer our sincere condolences to his family.

"We have thoroughly investigated what happened and identified a number of contributory factors, including elements of the triage system that was used at the time.

"We have also changed policy and procedures and updated our systems to better utilise the technology which now exists and which can assist in pinpointing incident locations. Extra guidance and training have also been provided to our control room colleagues to prevent this from happening again in the future."

She also requested further information from NWAS regarding call handler training. If she is not satisfied with the response she can consider issuing a Report to Prevent Future Deaths.

Euxton Villa Football Club said: "Luke’s tragic passing in March 2021 was and remains a matter of the sincerest regret to all of us at Euxton Villa Football Club.

"The Club is aware that Luke was a talented and popular member of the football community.

"We have worked with the Coroner throughout the inquest process and Luke’s family and friends continue to be in our thoughts."