Tesco to appear before coroner's court after man, 48, dies in horror incident on petrol station forecourt

Tesco has been called to appear before a court after a man tragically died following an incident on a petrol station forecourt.

The 48-year-old suffered 'severe burns' after he ‘sprayed himself with petrol and set himself on fire’ at a Tesco petrol station in Victoria Avenue East, Blackley, a coroners' court hearing was told.

Afolabi Oluwafemi Ojerinde died in Wythenshawe Hospital after the incident at around 7.35pm on Monday, September 4, 2023, as previously reported by the Manchester Evening News.

An inquest was opened in September of last year by Manchester area coroner Zak Golombeck, who said that Mr Ojerinde had been receiving support from mental health services. Today, December 9 2024, a final date was set for the full inquest, set to run for five days from January 27, 2025.

The inquest was adjourned until then. Supermarket giant Tesco and Chubb Fire and Security services are among those marked as interested persons in the case, heard the hearing in Manchester Coroners’ Court this morning.

READ MORE: We are among the youngest to die in the UK – and the government is STILL refusing to commit to fixing our crumbling hospital

A previous pre-inquest review in August was told how Mr Ojerdine had 'been known' to Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust since 2021. The hearing is likely to be what is known legally as an Article 2 inquest.

This is an extended inquest that looks at not just the means by which someone has died but also the wider circumstances surrounding their death. Mr Golombeck said in August that it was his provisional view that there was an 'arguable breach of the operational duty' and that it would need to be examined 'whether there was a real or immediate risk to Mr Ojerdine's life which state agencies