A SECURITY guard died after lighting a homemade brazier in his car to keep warm, an inquest heard.

Ali Yalcin, 36, of Lowther Court, off Lowther Street, York, had been working a 12-hour night shift alone at the PapaKata Tents site in Forest Lane, Harrogate, on December 21 last year.

His colleague Joe Neal, the last person to see Mr Yalcin alive when they swapped shifts at about 7.50pm the previous evening, said in a statement read out at the inquest at Harrogate Magistrates Court that he could not find his colleague when he returned at about 7.50am the next day.

After ringing his phone he realised Mr Yalcin was inside his locked car and appeared to be sleeping, with the windows shut. When he was unable to rouse him by shaking the car, an ambulance was called.

The pair worked for Selby-based Delta Security and Event Management Ltd, the firm contracted to provide security for the PapaKata Christmas party venue.

The inquest heard a paramedic broke the car window and found Mr Yalcin dead in the back seat with a metal ice-bucket containing charcoal in the passenger seat footwell.

Det Sgt Paul Schofield, of Harrogate CID, who attended the incident, said: “It was a bitterly cold night and Mr Yalcin appears to have gone to sleep in the back of his vehicle, but unfortunately, because of the brazier, he hasn’t woken up.”

Brian Hagyard, a Health and Safety officer for Harrogate Council, said Delta had provided a small electric heater and a generator for their security staff to use, and they had been told by PapaKata staff they could use the charcoal fire pits in the venue’s teepees.

He said neither Delta nor PapaKata had breached health and safety regulations relating to Mr Yalcin’s death.

Post mortem examination findings suggested Mr Yalcin’s death was caused by high levels of carbon monoxide – 84 per cent – in his blood, the inquest heard.

Mr Yalcin’s cousin, Erdal Ozturkce, asked why it had taken so long for an ambulance to be called.

He said Mr Yalcin had expressed concerns that the electric heater was not working.

Coroner Rob Turnbull adjourned the case until May 1 for a representative for Delta to give evidence.