No safety barrier in gantry fall

Serco said it was not told of the dangerous drop where Mr Grant fell

An inquest into the death of a motorway engineer from Bristol has heard he was sent out at night without safety checks or proper lighting.

Cecil Grant, 42, fell down a steep embankment on the M5 near Bristol while trying to fix a faulty CCTV camera.

The inquest heard, on 26 January 2006, he had no alternative but to climb over a barrier to lower the camera's mast.

Lawyers for his employer, Serco, said the firm did not know about the dangerous drop down the embankment.

Crash barrier

The inquest at Flax Bourton heard the company failed to provide a health and safety plan for its staff.

Insp Ben Batley, who carried out an inquiry into the fall, told the inquest that a Serco manager had sent Mr Grant and his colleague out at night to a site which he knew to be dangerous and without a light.

The pair had to buy their own torches as there was no other lighting at the site between junctions 19 and 20 of the motorway, south of Bristol.

Police video shows there was no safety barrier to protect motorway workers once they had gone over the crash barrier.

Insp Batley said the Highways Agency and the main contractors for the widening work had been warned about the dangerous drop.

A lawyer for Serco denied that the company had been passed the information.

The inquest continues.