The son of one of the three men who died after their 4×4 vehicle was swept away in a North Yorkshire river told of his desperate battle to save them at an inquest today (Thursday).
All three died after their Land Rover sank to the bottom of the River Esk at Glaisdale on 28 December last year.
They were members of a club for green laners and were attempting to drive across the river at the Rake Lane ford when the tragedy happened.
Today an inquest was held into the deaths of the men:
- Kenneth Patrick Hibbins, known as Patrick, aged 59, from Melbourne near York
- Leslie Forbes, 70, of North Newbald, East Yorkshire, and
- Scott Thomas Daddy, 28, of Hull.
They were all members of the East Riding 4×4 club. On the morning of the tragedy five vehicles set off green laning – which is similar to off-roading, but done on public rights of way.
Ian Robinson from the club was the co-organiser of the trip. When his car arrived at the Esk the river was noted to be in flood.
Mr Robinson told North Yorkshire coroner Jonathan Leach that the decision to proceed or not was down to the individual driver, although they did all talk to one another.
That day, he had a discussion with a club member in the last of the five vehicles who asked “Should we be doing this?”, the inquest heard. “If one person doesn’t want to do it, I will err on the side of safety,” Mr Robinson said.
Instead of using the ford, they crossed the Esk over bridge. Then he got a “garbled message” about the need to recover a vehicle.
When he arrived at the Rake Ford incident, “there were several people in distress”.
‘Looked a bit dodgy’
Robert Forbes, the son of Leslie who died in the incident, told the inquest that he was in the lead Land Rover with his father, who was driving. Scott was in the front passenger seat and Patrick was in the rear passenger seat.
When they arrived at Rake Ford, the river was high. “But I thought it would be possible. I had crossed fords similar to this in the past with the same water height, successfully, so I did not think there would be any issues,” Robert said in a statement.
He left the car to take photographs of it crossing the ford.
Robert Gibb, who was in the vehicle behind Mr Forbes, said he got out of his car at the ford and “thought it looked a bit dodgy to drive through” because he could see “white horses, like waves breaking over where you actually drive through”, but before he could voice his concerns Mr Forbes had already started moving forward.
Robert Forbes was visibly upset throughout his evidence and asked senior coroner Jonathan Leach to read his statement as he was “finding it really hard”.
His father’s Land Rover got about half way across when the car wheels were lifted off the cobblestone floor and the vehicle couldn’t steer.
“The river was too fast flowing and it just took the vehicle off course. Before I knew it the vehicle was in the water,” Mr Forbes’ statement.
He threw his phone on the riverbank and got into the river “as quick as I could” before standing on the rear bumper holding onto the ladder.
He said he could hear Mr Daddy saying: “I’ll smash a window,” but the inquest in Northallerton heard the men were unable to break the windows, which could not be opened as they were electronically operated and did not work when the engine was off.
They could not open the doors either due to the pressure of the water, it was said.
Mr Forbes’s statement detailed his desperate attempts to rescue the three men from the Land Rover, trying to open the door and catch a strap thrown by someone from the riverbank, which sunk before it could reach him.
His statement read: “It was my intention to stay on the car until emergency services arrived and could get them out. I couldn’t face to leave the car and let the guys down.”
The inquest heard Robert Forbes was rescued by farmers and firefighters before being taken to hospital, but his statement said he had no recollection of it.
“I don’t recall much after that, I don’t remember how I got off the vehicle, I remember having hold of the rope, I think someone had pulled me out of the water but I’m not entirely sure how it happened,” he said.
A firefighter who attended the scene told the inquest the car had been submerged for about an hour by the time they arrived at the remote location, and recovery efforts were hindered by the fast-moving, cold deep water.
PC Matthew Townfield of North Yorkshire Police, who investigated the scene, said the vehicle had been fitted with a dog cage which was “likely to have hindered any escape or rescue attempt”.
He said the vehicle was mechanically sound.
The inquest heard the bodies of the three men were recovered between 3.15pm and 3.35pm
A pathologist concluded all three men died as a result of drowning.
Mr Leach recorded a conclusion of misadventure.