Luke Bennett: Ambulance service apologises after boy electrocuted

Ambulance bosses have apologised for the late arrival of paramedics after a young footballer died when a metal pole touched an overhead electric line.

Luke Bennett, 17, was killed when he and two friends tried to stand the pole on its end on playing fields in Euxton, Lancashire.

His inquest heard an ambulance was called but initially went to the wrong place.

North West Ambulance Service said it was "extremely sorry".

Mr Bennett, who played for AFC Fylde and spent time at Burnley and Blackburn's academies, had been playing football near Euxton Villa FC, on 6 March 2021.

Recording a narrative conclusion, coroner Rachel Bisset said: "Shortly before 6pm Luke and friends lifted a metal pole which had been used to secure goal netting, into a vertical position.

"This came into contact with electrical wires and caused his heart to stop. An ambulance was called but initially attended an incorrect location.

"During the wait for the ambulance to attend, Luke did not receive CPR or defibrillation on the advice of the ambulance service who considered the electrical hazard to be still present.

"Despite advanced life support procedures when ambulance crews arrived, Luke's heart did not restart and he was pronounced dead at the scene."

North West Ambulance Service it was an "incredibly tragic case".

A spokesman said after the inquest hearing: "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."

AFC Fylde said the teenager, from Chorley, was "a kind, popular young man who was much loved by his teammates and coaches".

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