Don’t ‘van surf’ says mother of dead teenager

Scott Blackburn, 15, jumped onto the back of his father’s Renault Trafic van as his 18-year-old brother Damien parked it, an inquest heard.

The teenager had clung onto the back doors of the van with his feet spread-eagled across the bumper before falling off into the road and smashing his head on the kerb.

His mother, dinner lady Andrea Blackburn, 42, and other residents on the street where he lived in Doncaster, rushed out to help him as he laid in a pool of blood with his head and shoulder hanging in the road – just 35 metres from his home.

But there was nothing that could be done to save the schoolboy, and he was pronounced dead when he arrived at Doncaster Royal Infirmary.

His mother has now called for others not to copy the “van surfing” stunt.

Doncaster Coroners Court heard on Tuesday how Scott and his family of mother, brother, now 20, and father, self-employed electrical engineer, Greg, 41, used to go to a nearby motocross track, where the brothers could legally ride their bikes.

Scott would quite often jump on to the back of the van at the track, as a lot of the other youngsters did, and would bounce up and down, but, said Damien: “He would let you know he was there.

“He was quite often messing about and he would stand on the back and wave out at you.”

On the day of the tragic accident on Sunday August 22, 2010, the family were unpacking their bikes when Greg had to go out for work.

Damien wanted to move the van, which was parked up in the back garden, so he could wash the bikes there.

“There are too many cars there to be able to pull out of the drive and park across the house so I did what my dad does and came out of the drive and turned up the road to turn round and take the van back,” he said.

“The first I knew was when I saw Scott in the road after I’d turned round, but I didn’t know how he’d got there. I thought he was messing about, because he’s like that, but then I saw all the blood and I knew it was serious.”

Neighbours reported how they saw Scott get on to the back of the vehicle. Lee Butler said he saw him get on in “one swift move”.

Pc Anthony Bashforth, giving evidence, said prints left behind showed he had fallen from the vehicle.

He said: “There must have been a gear change or change of direction that was sufficient for Scott to lose grip.”

Pathologist Dr Martha Cohen told the court Scott died of an unsurvivable head injury.

Recording a verdict of accidental death coroner Ms Nicola Mundy said: “There was a question of whether there was awareness of Scott’s weight being on the van ... I find that he wasn’t aware.

“It is my view that Scott effectively lost his grip and as a consequence he fell to the ground and struck his head and suffered injuries from which he died that day.”

Speaking after the case, Mrs Blackburn added: “Young people should not get onto the back of vehicles. They all do it at the track, and don’t realise how dangerous it is. Scott was a joker and was always messing about, it was just who he was.”