Inquest into river death in tractor

A BRIGHTON Council supervisor was the first to find a contracted worker slumped in his tractor that had come to rest in the Jordan River in 2015, an inquest has heard.

The inquest examining the cause and circumstances surrounding the death of experienced tractor driver Alexander Dale Hall on October 26, 2015 opened in Hobart yesterday.

Mr Hall, 63, was employed by his nephew, Peter Jones, whose business was subcontracted by the council to mow a paddock in Bridgewater near the waste-transfer station.

Brighton Council works supervisor Scott Percy told Coroner Simon Cooper that a member of the public that morning reported seeing a tractor in the Jordan River.

Mr Percy said he and a colleague drove to the site.

“I didn’t think there was anyone in the tractor to start with,” Mr Percy said.

“I went down and had a look at the tractor . . . when I LORETTA LO LOHBERGER LO climbed up on the slasher and looked through the window I saw Dale slumped on the floor.”

He said there was water in the tractor cabin and Mr Hall’s face was submerged.

Mr Percy said he opened the rear door of the cabin and pulled Mr Hall’s face out of the water, holding him until police arrived.

In a statement to police after the accident, Mr Percy said he believed Mr Hall was dead at that time.

Mr Jones, Mr Hall’s nephew and employer, told the inquest he considered the tractor Mr Hall was driving, a 1990s Ford, safe to use and said Mr Hall was a safe worker.

Mr Jones said he thought Mr Hall hit his head while driving before the tractor veered from the area he was mowing down to the river through tall grass the employer said was never mowed.

“He would not have diverted down towards the water, never,” Mr Jones said.

“Something happened that he drove in the way that he did.”

The inquest heard the tractor had last been serviced in December 2014 and in April or May 2015 Mr Jones had prepared it for sale.

Mr Jones said the tyre tread was “down a bit” but the tyres were not bald.

Counsel assisting the coroner, Sam Thompson, said state forensic pathologist Christopher Lawrence had put forward six scenarios to explain possible causes of Mr Hall’s death.

Mr Thompson asked Mr Cooper to consider whether the condition of the tractor contributed to Mr Hall’s death.

The inquest continues.