A FATHER died when he fell from a ladder being used to work on his own home.

David Elks, 50, was completing parts of an extension at his house in Upper Poppleton when he fell from the 15ft to 20ft ladder with a piece of fascia board in one hand.

The “very fit and healthy” father-ofone, who ran his own business, David Elks Windows, died from a severe traumatic brain injury on Saturday, May 3, last year.

An inquest yesterday into his death heard that a neighbour had raised concerns about the ladder’s safety when he was invited to the home to pack Mr Elks’ belongings following his death.

The equipment, which belonged to a scaffolding company, had been used by a builder contracted by the family for six weeks. He said every time he used the ladder it had been “fine” and he was never worried about his safety.

However, only one hook was being used to keep the ladder attached to the scaffolding, the top rung was damaged, and the safety structure did not have a “Scafftag”, a certificate which deemed it safe to use. The scaffolder employed by the builder also made changes to the structure shortly after Mr Elks’ death.

But Jonathan Leach, York’s acting senior coroner, said the factors had not contributed to the fatality.

Mr Leach said the builder had said he and his employee had used the ladder on many occasions and that would suggest it was secure.

He added: “David would have used the ladder on many occasions and didn’t express any concerns to Mrs Elks or anyone else. There was no Scafftag, but the lack of one does not in itself mean the scaffolding was unsafe.”

Shortly before he fell, Mr Elks had been called inside by his wife, Debbie.

She said: “We were getting lunch and there was a knock at the door and it was a neighbour saying David had had an accident and we needed to go out.”

Paramedics arrived at the home shortly afterwards and the air ambulance came to take Mr Elks to hospital. However, he could not be saved and the family decided to turn off his life support machine later that day. Mr Leach concluded the death had been an accident.