Coroner calls for snowmobile safety

A coroner has called for better training for snowmobile riders at an inquest into the accidental death of a leading dog show judge.

Carole Ferguson, 56, of Thurston, Suffolk, was crushed to death under a logging truck while riding a snowmobile during a working trip to Canada.

Mrs Ferguson was crossing the road in a convoy of about 20 snowmobiles when she died near Chicoutimi, Quebec in January.

The inquest in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, heard that Mrs Ferguson, who had judged at Crufts, was riding a snowmobile for the first time after just 15 minutes of instruction.

Coroner Caroline Burnett said on Tuesday that companies organising trips should ensure that safety standards were high.

She echoed an earlier call by a Canadian coroner, who had also investigated the accident, for snowmobile lessons to be more detailed.