The family of a gamekeeper who died for the want of a mobile phone after becoming seriously injured while working on a Scottish estate has called for new legislation to prevent a similar tragedy.

The family of a gamekeeper who died for the want of a mobile phone after becoming seriously injured while working on a Scottish estate has called for new legislation to prevent a similar tragedy.

Douglas Armstrong, 53, staggered for 200 yards and managed to open a 10ft-high gate following a quad bike accident before eventually collapsing in a field at Philipshaugh Estate, near Selkirk, in 2004. A fatal accident inquiry determination said he may have lain for three days before his body was discovered.

Mr Armstrong, who was also a teacher, died on his first day covering for the estate's regular gamekeeper, who was recovering from an operation after being in hospital. It was not until he realised he had not heard the quad bike doing the estate's pheasant feed run that a search was launched.

In the FAI determination, published on Thursday, Sheriff Jamie Gilmour ruled that Mr Armstrong might have survived if he had been issued with a mobile phone or if a check-in system at night was in operation at the estate.

Sheriff Gilmour also said the gamekeeper's death illustrated the need for employers to assess the risks for lone workers in the countryside in regard to training and communication.

Yesterday Mr Armstrong's sister Karen welcomed the sheriff's findings but said some way had to be found to enshrine them in law to prevent a similar tragedy.

She said: "We want to see a legal requirement on the people who run big estates to issue their workers with mobile phones and put in place a buddy system to raise the alarm in an emergency."

Ms Armstrong added: "Some of the evidence at the FAI was desperately harrowing and added to the anguish of Douglas's death which has had a devastating effect on the family and our parents."