Rescuers clawed at rubble in a desperate bid to save a workman buried in a collapsed trench, an inquest jury heard.

Andrew Lancaster, 23, was covered by the rubble after the trench fell on him when he and a colleague were working at a housing site off Bingley Road, Heaton, Bradford, on October 18, 2010.

Mr Lancaster, the son of Bradford property owner and landlord Charles Lancaster, had been trying to sort out a problem with smelly drains buried under a private driveway of a development owned by a business acquaintance of his father’s. Giving evidence, digger driver Anthony Hill said he had been concerned for both of the men and had warned that the trench needed shoring up but he had been told to keep digging by Andrew Lancaster, who was in charge of the work.

Retired Mr Hill, who was working for Pudsey Plant Hire, said: “I was concerned about them both. I could not have told them not to go down that hole. They were in charge.”

Joiner Richard Oxley, who had also been in the trench when it collapsed, told the inquest that he did not have a clue about trench safety. He told how he and Mr Lancaster, of Crowther Avenue, Calverley, had been taking it in turns to dig gravel away from the pipe when he felt the ground sink under his feet.

Also giving evidence, he said: “I grabbed hold of Andrew and set off running. It felt like he pulled my arm off. When I got to the other side of the trench he was not there.”

After the collapse Raja Mahmood, who lives in one of the houses, rushed to the trench and told Mr Hill to dig out some of the rubble before he finally saw the top of Mr Lancaster’s head.

The jury was told how the five detached executive properties, owned by Overland Developments, could not be sold because there was still a list of faults which needed to be put right – the drainage problem being one.

Original builders Hamm Construction had gone into liquidation a month before completing it and Cairn Construction, of Birkenshaw, which had been due to step in, pulled out after a price for the work could not be agreed.

It was then that site owner Parvez Akhtar asked Mr Lancaster to take on the drainage project for him.

Craig Shaw, managing director of Calderdale Sewer Services Ltd, said his company had originally done camera surveys of the faulty drain for Mr Akhtar, identifying a snaking and sagging pipe that needed fixing and sent in a quote for £12,000 plus VAT.

But when he met Charles Lancaster on Mr Akhtar’s behalf, Mr Lancaster had wanted to make cuts to the quote and he said he got the impression that “he did not know much about the field of drainage”. Mr Shaw said he had insisted on being paid £6,000 in advance if the work was to go ahead but heard nothing after that.

Pudsey Plant Hire owner Paul Vaipond said it was Charles Lancaster who had rung to order the digger for the job for one day and cash up front had been insisted on because of his poor credit record with the company.

The inquest also heard from bricklayer Ryan Milner, who had been asked by Andrew Lancaster, to help on the job.

He said: “I said ‘you know it needs shoring up’ and his words were’don’t tell your grandma to suck eggs’. This is why I can’t understand why it happened.”

Andrew Lancaster’s mother Gillian Gatherum said to the best of her knowledge her former husband, Charles, was not qualified in any construction work.

“If I wanted someone to hang a curtain rail, I’d have to get someone in,” she said in her statement The hearing continues.