Financier’s girl, 15, died when vehicle overturned
A15-YEAR-OLD girl died when her all-terrain vehicle flipped and landed on her neck as she was trying to “scare” her friend, an inquest heard.
Iris Goldsmith, daughter of financier Ben Goldsmith, died on the family’s farm after losing control of the six-seater Polaris Ranger, nicknamed The Mule.
Taunton Coroner’s Court heard that the teenager, who was taught at the age of eight by her father to ride the vehicle, had tried to spook her friend by zig-zagging across a rough field.
Neither Iris nor her pal were wearing seatbelts and were flung from the vehicle and landed under its roof.
The coroner heard Iris was then pinned to the ground by her neck and couldn’t be freed until members of staff from Cannwood Farm, in North Brewham, Somerset, rushed to help.
The Polaris was eventually lifted from her but she was unconscious and had stopped breathing.
After 45 minutes of desperate medical help and CPR she was pronounced dead.
In a statement read to the inquest, Mr Goldsmith described his daughter as a “force of nature” and said “nobody could have stopped her doing what she wanted to do”.
He described the tragedy as an “amalgamation of bad luck” but said she was well used to driving the vehicle from a very young age and had never seen her do so irresponsibly.
Coroner Tony Williams recorded a verdict of accidental death after hearing the two teenagers were on their way to collect another friend from a neighbouring farm at around 3pm on July 8 2019.
Later examinations on the vehicle showed it had low front brake pads, worn lower wishbone bushes and under-inflated tyres.
A collision investigator told the inquest it was a combination of a sharp right turn, the vehicle faults and the safety equipment not being used that culminated in her death.
No criminal charges were brought and the Health and Safety Executive dropped its investigation because the incident happened during leisure use.
Mr Williams said: “I think it’s fair to say that the various defects to the Polaris Ranger, if considered in isolation, would not have caused the vehicle to overturn.
“It was Iris’s driving that caused this and the defects contributed to the instability of the vehicle.
“As we know, Iris was probably having fun with her friend when this tragic incident occurred.”
A pathologist at Yeovil Hospital concluded that her cause of death was pressure to the neck, which caused the obstruction of veins and led to cardiac arrest.
In a written statement, Ben Goldsmith said he’d taught Iris to drive on private land, including at Cannwood Farm, from the age of eight.
He added: “It feels like what happened to my daughter was an amalgamation of bad luck. The Mule was not being used by anyone on the Monday which was unusual, and that turned out to be bad luck.
“The ground was very hard as we’ve just come out of a two-month dry spell, which may have made the wheels skid, which was also bad luck.
“Also, Iris may have made the decision to get out of the vehicle as it rolled, which may have contributed to her death. Maybe if she had just held on inside, she wouldn’t have been killed.
“The way the vehicle fell on her was unlucky, and there was no one else around who could help. All of these things as one-offs are unlucky but added together, it is just unbelievably unfair.
“It is difficult for me to apportion blame to anyone but Iris for what happened. There are certain things which have contributed, but Iris was a force of nature and I don’t think anyone could have stopped her from doing anything that she wanted to do.”
In his statement Mr Goldsmith said: “My children have been used to driving quad bikes of the appropriate size for a long time and they were taught by me. I had a driving test for them to prove that they were capable of handling the quad bikes.
“I gave Iris permission to drive The Mule on our private land. I gave her lessons. This started at a young age and Iris would have been driving under my supervision from about eight years of age. She would have been driving by herself from around 13 or 14.
“I would have seen her driving The Mule multiple times, but I don’t recall any irresponsible driving. Our house manager has previously raised concern about Iris being reckless on horses and quad bikes, but not The Mule.
“If I ever heard about Iris doing something she shouldn’t, I reprimanded her for it and made sure she understood that she shouldn’t be doing those things.”
My children have been used to driving quad bikes... for a long time BEN GOLDSMITH