A rugby stalwart was crushed to death by a JCB driven by a man who did not have the qualifications to be at the controls, an inquest heard.

Tony Cripps, 57, of Cooper Close, in Chipping Norton, was working as a gardener at JCB boss Sir Anthony Bamford's Cotswold estate Daylesford Organic Farm, near Kingham, when the accident happened in June last year.

A jury at Gloucester Coroner's Court heard yesterday how Mr Cripps, one of the founding members of Chipping Norton Rugby Club, had been riding in the bucket of a JCB Loadall with a colleague shortly before he died.

The court also heard the driver, Gareth Trueman, had not passed the relevant tests allowing him to be operating the vehicle.

Graham Acock, a fellow employee at the farm, Mr Cripps, Mr Trueman and Michael Turner, had been told to collect elderflower by the farm's cook so he could make lemonade.

The men had used the roof of a machine called a groundhog — similar to a golf buggy — to reach the elderflower before Mr Acock returned with a JCB.

They then used the bucket of the Loadall to reach elderflower from further off the ground.

Mr Acock had been lifting the two men in the bucket while the machine was stationary, as Mr Cripps gathered elderflower from the ground.

After some time, Mr Acock was called away to deal with another matter, leaving the three remaining men to work alone.

Mr Acock admitted to coroner Alan Crickmore that he had used the JCB for lifting, but denied knowing the men had planned to use the machine to travel.

He also said although Mr Trueman did not have the relevant qualifications to drive the JCB, he often saw him doing so.

He said: "I knew he did not have the appropriate qualifications for this. I had no concerns about his ability. He was very competent."

Mr Turner was riding in the bucket of the Loadall with Mr Cripps when he died. He said: "I don't remember whose idea it was to travel in the bucket. I got in the bucket first.

"Tony was on his phone at the time. He shouted 'wait for me' and then he got in. I was on the right and Tony was on the left and the crates were in the middle of us.

"We were both standing, I think. We were travelling at walking speed, just a bit faster.

"It slowed down where there was no grass and then sped up again to walking speed. I wasn't really looking at Tony — I was looking across at the new geese we had just got.

"I felt a little bump then saw Tony disappear over the back of the bucket. He fell backwards over the right hand side; I just saw his feet go and he disapp- eared.

"Gareth stopped and I ran around to give him (Mr Cripps) some stick because I just thought he fell off...

"I saw the wheel on top of Tony. I shouted to Gareth to back off and then I shouted to go and get help. It was obvious he was in a bad way."

The inquest continues.