Boy, 6, died in stairlift tragedy
A six-year-old boy killed in a stairlift accident at his great-grandmother's Shropshire home would not have died if it was correctly installed, an inquest heard today. A six-year-old boy killed in a stairlift accident at his great-grandmother's Shropshire home would not have died if it was correctly installed, an inquest heard today. Oliver Mapp was playing on the lift in Haybridge Parade, Oakengates, Telford, on January 28 when he fell and his head became trapped between its footplate and the stair tread. The lift continued to rise up the stairs. Michael Gwynne, Telford & Wrekin coroner, recorded a verdict of accidental death on the boy from Bolton-Le-Sands, Lancashire. Read the full story in today's Shropshire Star
Oliver's grandad Robert was unable to stop it, he told the hearing at Telford County Court.
Michael Gwynne, Telford & Wrekin coroner, recorded a verdict of accidental death on the boy from Bolton-Le-Sands, Lancashire.
But he heard from James Rennie, a consultant forensic engineer, that some safety devices in the lift were not working correctly.
Stefan Wood, Oliver's uncle, who lives at St Georges, told how he had moved the lift from a house in Wellington without the help of a professional or a manual.
Mr Rennie said, because it was installed on the right side of the stairs, rather than the left as it had been previously, the stairlift's obstruction contactor trips were not working.
This meant that when Oliver's head was pressing against the trips it would not reverse and free him.
Mr Gwynne said: "It was those safety devices which failed so far as Oliver was concerned. If they had been in place and working we wouldn't be here today."
Mr Rennie also told the inquest children should not be allowed to play on stairlifts.
"Stairlifts should be installed by somebody who knows what they are doing," he said.
Doctor Edmund Tapp, consultant pathologist, told the inquest Oliver had become unconscious, gone into cardiac arrest and died immediately, although he was not recorded dead until later at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital. His cause of death was a blunt force head injury which had fractured his skull.
His grandparents Robert and Pauline, also from Lancashire, had been taking him to visit his great-grandmother, Eileen Meeson, at her home in Oakengates.
By Dave West
