Zoe Woolmer: Company running tour on which British backpacker died was 'unsafe and unprofessional', inquest hears

Cliff fall: Zoe Woolmer

The Australian company which ran the tour on which a British backpacker fell to her death from the edge of a canyon was branded “unsafe and unprofessional” by a former guide, an inquest at Alice Springs heard today.

Zoe Woolmer, 23, fell about 165 feet to her death after losing her footing while posing for a photograph on a ledge at Kings Canyon in the Northern Territory in June last year.

Former guide Adam Cooper today told the inquest into Ms Woolmer’s death that when he first worked for The Rock Tour in 2011 the job was “fantastic” — but when he re-joined a couple of years later, he claimed staff turnover was high and the quality of the guides had dropped: “The second time I went there it was horrible, they were playing chicken with buses — two buses driving towards each other on the same side of the road.”

In a letter to police shortly after the incident Mr Cooper was quoted as having written that The Rock Tour was an “unsafe and unprofessional organisation”. The letter added: “I truly believed that a tragedy like this was only a matter of time.”

The Rock Tour said Mr Cooper had left on bad terms.

The inquest continues.

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