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• Drowning Simon Burgess, 41, was just 20ft away from firefighters but inquest hears they refused to save him
  
• Police officer who went in to water was ordered back
• Witness claims firemen told her they couldn't go in if water was more than 'ankle deep'
• Fire service say level 1 water rescue firefighters can go into only ankle-deep lakes - they needed people trained to level 2
  

By Rob Cooper

Last updated at 7:15 PM on 21st February 2012

A charity shop worker drowned in a shallow lake after firemen refused to help for health and safety reasons, an inquest heard today.

Simon Burgess, 41, toppled into the three foot deep water while feeding the swans.

Even when a police officer who had arrived at the scene waded into the water, he was ordered back.

Tragedy: Simon Burgess, right, feeds the swans at the lake in Gosport, Hampshire, where he drowned a few months after this picture was taken

And a witness told the inquest that firemen said they were not allowed into water that was more than 'ankle-deep'.

Gillian Hughes, 53, said 'you're having a laugh' when firefighters said they could not rescue Mr Burgess. A fireman responded: 'no, that's health and safety'.

Instead they waited for a specialist rescue team and Mr Burgess was only taken out of the lake 28 minutes after the alarm was raised in Gosport, Hampshire.

He is thought to have suffered an epileptic fit at around the time he fell into the water. Although he was rushed to hospital he later died.

The lake's depth is one-and-a-half feet (0.5m) at the edges and up to three feet (1m) in the centre. It is 182 feet wide and 333 long.

Ms Hughes told the inquest she phoned emergency services and begged for them to rescue Mr Burgess when they arrived.

She said: 'I was feeding the ducks with my grandson, sister, and brother when we noticed the man smiling and throwing bread to the swans.

'He was feeding them from a plastic bag, which blew into the lake and he tried to slap the bag back (towards him) with a plastic lid.

'The next minute I noticed he was in the water and I shouted for him to get out, I said "You're not allowed in there".

'Too deep': Emergency services are pictured here just after they recovered the body from the lake. They had refused to get into the water until specialists arrived. Here the rescuers can be seen not even up to their waists

Wading out: Following the delay, a pair of firefighters make their way into the centre of the waist-deep lake to attempt to rescue Mr Burgess

Probe: Police cordon off the scene following the tragedy. The inquest heard today there was a 28 minute delay before Mr Burgess was pulled from the water after the first phone call was made

'He looked like he was swimming and had a smile on his face. The next minute he had stopped and was lying face down.'

She added that she did not get in herself because she did not know Mr Burgess' state of mind so feared he may have attacked.

Ms Hughes added: 'The firemen arrived with the police and I said "he's only been there five or ten minutes so if you hurry you might save him".

'He just said "we're not allowed" and I said "but that's your job".

'I said "you've got a pole on your truck, use that," but there was no explanation.

'Mr Burgess was only 20ft away, I thought they would get him straight away.

'I believe one of the police went in to get him but was told he was not allowed.

'I said to one of the firemen why don't you go in and he said they couldn't if the water was higher than ankle-deep.

'I said "you're having a laugh". He said "no, that's health and safety".'

Watch manager Tony Nicholls, from Gosport Fire Station, arrived at the model boating lake about three minutes after emergency services were called.

He told the inquest: 'The witnesses told me the body had been in the water for five or ten minutes.

'There were no obvious signs of life so from that I made an assessment it was a body retrieval and not a rescue.

'The officers were trained to go into ankle deep water, which is level one, so we waited for level two officers, who can go into chest high.

'On of the police officers told me he would like to go in the water and I advised him in the strongest terms not to.

'A paramedic told me he was level 2 water trained, but when I asked him if he had protective equipment he said no so that was the end of that.

'I was under immense pressure from the three witnesses to go into the water but I gave them a short answer.

'The specialist team arrived and three officers went in and removed the body.'

By the time firefighters arrived who were allowed to rescue the drowning man he had floated across the lake.

Dr Bret Lockyer, speciality registrar of histopathology, told the inquest that if Mr Burgess had been pulled out of the lake at Walpole Park sooner he may have been saved.

'If he had been taken out of the water after 10 minutes there is a slim chance he could've been resuscitated,' he said.

'It is a slim chance, obviously, the shorter amount of time he was in the water, the more chance he had of surviving.

'There was water in his lungs to suggest he died from drowning and he had a laceration on his tongue.

'It seems he had a seizure either before or while he fell into the water.'

Hampshire Fire and Rescue control room manager Deborah Coles said that she took the call at 12.17pm on March 10 last year - and sent water rescue trained crew within a minute.

However, although the first crew arrived at 12.20pm, the water rescue team did not get there until 12.31pm.

It was not until 12.52pm that he was recovered and 12.58pm that he was taken to hospital.

The hearing at Portsmouth Coroner's Court continues.