Teen advised not to fell tree that killed him, Oxford inquest told

In his evidence, Bristow said the tree, which was 1m (3ft) in diameter, had already had its crown removed and the plan had been for its main stem to be felled into the woodland.

It was tied to a chipper to support its direction of fall, he explained, which jurors were told was not usual practice.

Bristow said he had been advised to use the technique by Green, despite neither possessing assisting felling tickets, meaning they were unqualified to do so.

Green said on Tuesday that this recollection was “wrong”, saying there “should have been no felling at all” and he was “very surprised” Parkinson and Bristow had chosen to use a different technique to the one he had advised.

He said he had advised the pair to climb and sectionally dismantle the tree, “working from top down piece by piece” and taking sections of the trunk down in “manageable pieces”.

He said using a chipper to carry out assisted felling was “not standard practice”, but told jurors he had “known of it to be done on occasions”.

A report into the incident commissioned by the Health and Safety Executive found the tree surgeons had not followed “good industry practice” when making the cuts to fell the tree.

It found the cuts were “not of sufficient accuracy” to ensure the tree fell in the intended direction.

The report, which was carried out by an industry expert, attributed the causes of the incident to a combination of inadequate supervision, planning and training.