A FORMER soldier from Dorset is suing the Ministry of Defence for more than £290,000 over claims his hearing was damaged due to the sounds of gunfire and military equipment whilst serving in the Army.

Robin Price, 46, has launched a High Court claim against the MoD, claiming he developed hearing loss and tinnitus after being exposed to high levels of noise when he served in the King Royal Hussars between 1991 and 2014.

Now Mr Price, of Crossways - who left with the rank of sergeant - accuses the MoD of negligently exposing him to high noise levels, sometimes without ear protection, according to his writ issued at the court in London.

Dorset Echo:

It says he was exposed to noise from basic training at Catterick in 1991, from small arms and field exercises, and then throughout his lengthy career with the Army, which took him all over the world.

Excessive noise came from shooting competitions, exercises simulating warfare scenarios, tanks, sleeping in tanks while the engines ran, anti-tank weapons, mortars, grenades, flashbangs, pyrotechnic devices, helicopters, vehicle noise, and explosions, he claims.

When he served in Iraq, he says he was exposed to the noise of an explosion during an overnight journey on a tank transporter, which was so loud that it blew out the transporter’s windscreen and pierced its tyres.

In Belfast in 1994, it is alleged that he regularly carried out live range firing on a pipe range, where he had to fire into a small concrete pipe, which made the sound of the round reverberate.

Mr Price says that sometimes he was provided with ear defenders or ear protectors, but that on many occasions hearing protection was not required, enforced or worn.

He used a Clansman radio headset, mostly when working in tanks, but this exposed him to high frequency and white noise directly into his ear, the writ claims. It was not possible to wear hearing protection when using the radio, which led to increased exposure to noise when he needed to operate the radio.

He served in Germany, Canada, Belfast, Bosnia, Poland, Salisbury Plain, Northern Ireland, and Iraq, and after leaving the Army he joined the Military Provost Guard Service for four years.

He accuses the MoD of negligently failing to make any noise assessment, failing to keep records of noise assessments, failing to reduce the risk of damage to his hearing to the lowest level reasonably practicable, and failing to provide him with suitable and efficient ear protectors.

The MoD, he claims, required him to fire small arms and other weapons knowing that no hearing protection was available or would be provided, required him to remove or not wear hearing protection to discharge his duties, despite small arms fire around him, and required him to spend extended periods of time in, on or around tanks without hearing protection.

Mr Price is now disabled and compromised on the open labour market as a result of his hearing problems, the writs says.

An MOD spokesman said: “Health and safety is a foremost priority on both training and operations. We carefully assess noise levels and provide appropriate hearing protection when asking personnel to undertake duties in noisy environments.

“It would be inappropriate to comment further on this ongoing case.”