YORKSHIRE Water managers have admitted that a man who was engulfed in flames in an underground sewage chamber should not have been there.

Dennis Latter, 61, died in Pinderfields Hospital, Wakefield, more than two weeks after the accident at Huntington sewage pumping station on July 1 last year.

A post mortem examination found that Mr Latter, from Nottingham, had died from multiple organ failure, caused by septicaemia, brought on by burn and blast injuries.

Mr Latter worked for Galliford Northern, which had been contracted by Yorkshire Water.

In the second day of an inquest with a jury, Anthony Thirkell, Yorkshire Water works manager, who oversees Huntington sewage pumping station, told the inquest that Mr Latter and his work colleague, Gary Dames, should have been stopped from accessing a "confined space" underground sewage chamber.

Although he was not on site on the day of the death, he said: "A member of staff at Yorkshire Water should have stopped them going down the chamber. They should have been stopped."

He told the inquest that no contractor should have entered the chamber without a permit. He explained that Galliford Northern should have submitted a "method statement" in order to get a permit and this was not done.

He also said no maintenance had been carried out on the pipework carrying oxygen from a BOC pump to the chamber in seven years. He said this was Yorkshire Water's responsibility.

"No maintenance work has been carried out on the pipes while I have been there, which is six or seven years."

And in a Health and Safety inspection after the Mr Latter's death, two pin holes were found in the pipes. Mr Thirkell added: "The copper pipe work had two pin holes, one above ground and one below ground in the chamber. This gave scope for leakage."

Andrew Smith, project manager for Yorkshire Water, said it was up to the contractor to ask for a permit to work in the underground sewage chamber, adding: "We do not seek to issue a permit."

Gary Newbury, who works for Galliford Northern, said: "We had a very open working relationship with Yorkshire Water."

The hearing continues.