Husband of barrister, 42, who died saving her two children from caravan blaze sparked by ‘faulty fire alarm’ sues glamping company for £200,000

The husband of a solicitor who died saving his children from a caravan fire has sued a glamping company for more than £200,000, claiming the fire alarm was ‘faulty’.

Ruth Pingree, 42, was staying at a Suffolk glampsite with her family in July 2022 when her former Airstream vehicle burst into flames.

While her husband was outside the trailer, the lawyer helped her two children, who were trapped inside, escape.

The fire may have been caused by stray campfire coals or a cigarette butt surrounded by “flammable” plastic astroturf, an inquest heard earlier.

Roland Pingree is now taking glampsite company Happy Days Retro Vacations to court and seeking compensation of more than £200,000 ‘for fatal injury, loss and damage to the deceased…under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976’.

She is also filing personal injury claims on behalf of herself and her children.

Mr Pingree claims the smoke alarm in the caravan was faulty and did not go off, costing him vital seconds that could have saved his wife’s life.

The inquest into Ms Pingree’s death, held by coroner Darren Stewart in April last year, heard the family had left their home in Thames Ditton, Surrey, to stay with several other families.

The caravan where the family was staying, nicknamed ‘Betsy’, had a smoke and carbon monoxide detector as well as a fire blanket and a small fire extinguisher in the kitchen area.

The caravan where the family was staying, nicknamed ‘Betsy’, had a smoke and carbon monoxide detector as well as a fire blanket and a small fire extinguisher in the kitchen area.

During the evening hours on July 23, they socialized with friends around the fire pit and some of the adults smoked cigarettes.

The owner of the site conducted a security check around 12:30 p.m., an hour after the last person left the fire pit.

The inquest was told that there were ‘a few glowing embers’ in the pit at the time and the weather was ‘extraordinarily dry’ and windy, with temperatures higher than the average for the year.

The coroner found that between the inspection and 4.30am a fire started near one end of the caravan, first catching outside and spreading inside, heating the vehicle’s exterior aluminum cladding and causing the door frame to jam shut.

Mr Pingree was woken by the couple’s children and warned of the fire, then forced to open a window as the caravan ‘quickly filled with acrid dark smoke’.

With Mr Pingree outside and his wife still inside, they helped the children escape before Ms Pingree was engulfed in flames and smoke.

Mr Stewart said of the late barrister: ‘Ruth Ann Pingree was described by her family as a wonderful person. Someone who has a quality that draws you in with her smile, her laughter, her heart, her vulnerability and her brilliant mind.

The site consisted of seven caravans with aluminum exteriors. On July 23, the family gathered with friends around the fire pit in the evening.

Police on the scene after lawyer Ms. Pingree died while rescuing her children from a fire in her old Airstream trailer

‘He was a person who would make you feel loved, valued and appreciated. One in a million. ‘He is a person who is always there for his family and friends and is devoted to his children.’

As well as claiming the smoke alarm was faulty, Mr Pingree claimed the risk assessment at the glamp site was ‘inadequate’ and that no safety assessment had been carried out regarding the flammability of the awning, artificial turf and the interior of the caravan.

In the company’s submission to the court, solicitor Joel Kendall said: ‘The defendant accepts that it has a duty to take due care of the claimants in all reasonable circumstances of the case to ensure that the claimants are reasonably safe in their use of the premises.’

But he continued to deny responsibility for Ms Pingree’s death, saying: ‘It is denied that the risk assessment was wholly inadequate or non-existent as claimed.

‘On the contrary, the assessment was appropriate and sufficient when compared with relevant government guidance and was proportionate to the size and nature of the defendant’s building.

‘It is accepted that there is no official assessment regarding the flammability of the awning, artificial grass and materials inside the trailer. ‘Given the size and nature of the defendant’s property, such an assessment was not reasonably required.’

Mr Kendall said there was a central pit located ‘away from individual caravans’ and surrounded by bricks to prevent the fire from spreading.

He said: ‘The central fire pit was approximately 11.5 meters from the right post of the awning.

‘The cause of the fire was a corsa from the fire pit… the small fire was started where the central fire pit was located.

‘Although artificial grass is flammable like natural grass, there was sand under the artificial grass area. The flooring inside the trailer was fire resistant.’

Mr Kendall denied that the smoke detector had worked and stated that ‘Mr Pingree was wearing ear plugs at the time’.

He said the smoke detector was checked to make sure it was working ‘three to four days’ before the family arrived.

The detector was purchased and installed in April 2021 and was ‘checked monthly anyway’.

Mr Kendall said: ‘It is not accepted that the detector did not make a sound during the fire.

‘If the fire alarm did not work (it is not accepted), it is not accepted that it would have happened “significantly sooner” if it had worked. [one of the children] He allegedly set off the alarm so there would be more time for escape.

‘There were at least five windows that were solid and of suitable size to enable escape if the door could not be used; one of which was actually used by the plaintiffs.

‘The plaintiffs are presented with evidence regarding the movements and actions of the deceased, particularly in light of his intoxicated state.

‘The defendant states that the deceased and Mr Pingree had been drinking throughout the day and evening before the incident and that the deceased’s blood alcohol level at autopsy was 200mg/100ml.’

Mr Kendall claimed such ‘significant levels of alcohol’ would ‘significantly impair the deceased’s judgement, reactions and movements’, meaning ‘significantly increased sound pressure would be required to wake a person from sleep’.

The glamp site at Wardspring Farm in Saxmundham where Miss Pingree died has since been permanently closed.

The case will be presented to the court for a preliminary hearing at a later date unless a prior agreement is reached.