British Army officer killed when faulty Warrior tank reversed over him in training

In a training exercise on Salisbury Plain, Second Lieutenant Max George left a stationary Warrior FV511 to take his weapon from inside the vehicle, holding the 143 kg rear door open. The tank, known to have nine safety defects, lacked functional alarms or indicators for an open rear door, and its operators were unaware that George was still behind it. The driver then reversed the tank quickly, running over George and causing his death.

The inquest heard the faults were not deemed high priority, allowing the vehicle to remain in service despite a broken rear-door alarm identified years earlier. A service investigation led by Lieutenant Colonel Graham Watson examined the incident and the tank’s design differences from the standard FV510 model. George, a distinguished graduate of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and former head pupil at Durham School, had been praised for his leadership potential.