'Unreliable brakes' led to gantry fall

The men fell 80ft to their deaths

A rigger contracted to audit gantries on the M5 Avonmouth Bridge has told an inquest that he would not have worked on a gantry from which four men fell 80ft to their deaths in 1999.

Paul Stewart, 23, from Newcastle, Andrew Rodgers, 40, from Middlesbrough, Ronald Hill, 38, from Glasgow, and Jeffrey Williams, 42, from Newport, all died from multiple injuries.

Freelance rigger Peter Mercer, told coroner Brian Whitehouse he had been contracted in to audit the gantries the week before the tragedy.

On 1 September, 1999, he inspected the gantry involved in the fall.

"I wouldn't have worked on it," he told the eight-member jury at the Guildhall in Bristol.

"I was surprised to see beam clamps in use. They were being used as a sort of safety system, but they should only be used as a back-up to the main system."

He explained that four "turfers", which are used to move and restrain the gantry, should have been in use on the platform, but only one was in place.

Earlier on Monday, health and safety inspector Roger Jones told the jury that the gantry had been blown up a slope on the bridge because its brakes were "not reliable enough".

Mr Jones said there were no "endstops" on the beams which would have prevented the gantry falling off.

He also said the four victims were not to blame for the accident in 1999.

Health and safety inspector Peter Swift told the hearing that the beam clamps used as brakes for the gantry were "inherently unsuitable as a restraint".

The hearing, which is expected to last seven days, was adjourned until Tuesday.