Coroner demands more answers from 999 service over delays which led to footballer Luke Bennett’s tragic death

The AFC Fylde player was electrocuted after a prank went horrifically wrong following a kickabout with his mates.

But an inquest heard he could have survived had paramedics answering a 999 call not been sent to the wrong location by a call-handler.

At the conclusion of the two-day hearing in Preston, area coroner Kate Bisset gave the North West Ambulance Service 28 days to give more detail about new training given to staff to help avoid a repeat of the tragedy.

She also asked for more answers from Electricity North West whose overhead power lines at Euxton Villa FC’s ground delivered an 11,000 volt shock to Luke and two of his footballing friends when they touched them with a long metal pole.

The coroner said she would defer whether to issue both organisations with a Regulation 28 requiring more action to be taken to reduce the risk of future deaths until she had more answers.

Ms Bisset described the death of Luke, from Chorley, as “an utter, utter tragedy.” And she told his distraught parents sitting in the front row of the court “there are no words here.”

His dad, former professional footballer Tom Bennett, told the inquest how he had dropped his son off that day in March 2021 at around 2:30pm to play football with his pals. They had all gone to the Euxton Villa ground just for a kickabout.

“His personality was quite infectious,” said Mr Bennett, a former Wolves, Stockport and Walsall midfielder. “He was the life and soul. It was amazing how he could do something without any real practice. He just seemed to excel at pretty much all sports. He played at Blackburn for a bit, then he signed for Burnley and also at Preston.

When Luke failed to make the grade at league clubs, because he was a latecomer to football, he joined the academy at AFC Fylde. “He just fell short,” said dad Tom. “Even though previous academies had not worked out he picked himself up and got on with it.”

It was around 6pm that day that Luke and friends Lewis Geszke and Ben Wilcock picked up a heavy metal pole from behind a goal at the Euxton ground and stood it up on its end. The inquest heard that the pole, which was used to weigh down the back of the net, was 7.3-metres long. The power lines running over the back of the pitch were all less than 6.6-metres high.

Other youths playing on the same pitch heard a crackle and saw flames and at the top of the pole and all three boys collapsed. But it took paramedics more than 20 minutes to reach the scene to administer first aid after being wrongly sent to Runshaw College almost two miles away. By that time, said a cardiac specialist, Luke had lost the chance of being revived.

The inquest heard a call-handler twice mis-heard the location from one of the youths on the 999 call. Then they failed to use a Find My Phone button on their system to locate the real address. A defibrillator at the gate of the club did not flash up on the controller’s screen because of the incorrect location. And the handler also ordered the boys not to touch Luke for fear of being electrocuted themselves, therefore delaying any first aid they could have given.

Mr Bennett broke down in tears as the coroner said in her conclusion: “I am satisfied that if the ambulance service had attended the correct address, it’s more likely than not that Luke would have survived.”Earlier the chairman of Euxton Villa, Graham Keyte, told the inquest that the metal pole, from an old perimeter fence, had been used to anchor down the back of the goal net instead of pegs. It was heavy and needed two people to carry it.

He said groups of youths used to access the club when there were no games and play on the pitches and they were “tolerated” by some members of the committee. A member of the committee there that day had told the boys to “finish their game and then leave.” He then left them.

Of the electric cables above the ground, Mr Keyte said: “Obviously you know they are there, but you just forget about them because they don’t interfere with the games.” The club had even reduced the length of one pitch to make sure the lines didn’t interfere and obstruct the game.

Asked if anyone at the club had thought the pole was a hazard, he said “No. I just never foresaw the pole being used in any way like that. I never envisaged someone picking it up. If I had, that pole would never have been there. Electricity North West never raised that the pole was an issue on the site (during an inspection).”

Euxton Villa, he said, have around 600 active players and about 90 per cent of those were children. They also have around 70 volunteers. No-one has ever been concerned about the safety of the pole.

Andrew Seager, a Health and Safety expert, added that the pole would have had to be within a centimetre of the wires for the electricity to arc across to it. “If it was used as it was expected to be used I wouldn’t consider it to be a hazard.”

Paul Turner of Electricity North West said in a statement to the inquest that the company had 8,000 kilometres of overhead power lines. “As it (the pole) would have required multiple people to lift it, Electricity North West would not have considered it to be a hazard.”

In a short statement issued following proceedings, Euxton Villa 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.”