Afghanistan veteran sues MoD for £500,000 after 'piercing' Ajax tank alarms destroyed his hearing

Jonathan Bevan, 46, a former Household Cavalry sergeant who served in Afghanistan, is bringing a £500,000 claim against the MoD at the Court of Appeal before Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr. He was medically discharged in June 2023 suffering from persistent tinnitus and psychological health conditions. He alleges that 'piercing' emergency alarms went off in his headset every six to seven seconds while he was testing the Army's Ajax fleet between 2017 and 2021, leaving him with acoustic shock syndrome.

The MoD has admitted negligence over noise levels inside the Ajax tank but denies it triggered acoustic shock or caused Bevan's specific condition.

A Manchester judge initially threw out the claim last April, finding no 'memorable event' that triggered his hearing loss — Bevan's lawyers are now arguing that ruling was wrong.

The £6.3 billion Ajax programme, covering 589 tanks across six variants, was so plagued by safety problems that ministers halted payments to the American manufacturers for over two years.