This is the last article you can read this month
You can read more article this month
You can read more articles this month
Sorry your limit is up for this month
Reset on:
Please help support the Morning Star by subscribing here
AN INVESTIGATION into a building collapse that killed four demolition workers has still not reached a conclusion, six years after the tragedy, bereaved families said today.
Mick Collings, Chris Huxtable, Ken Cresswell and John Shaw died on February 23 2016 when a boiler house collapsed during the demolition of Didcot power station in Oxfordshire.
It was six months before three of the bodies could be recovered because of the danger of a further collapse.
Families Against Corporate Killing (FACK), which is supporting the bereaved families, said that “no time frame for any conclusion has been given” by the joint investigation involving police, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Crown Prosecution Service.
The four men were all experienced demolition workers employed by specialist firm the Coleman Group.
Mr Cresswell’s wife Gail said that there had been “six years without answers for our men, who just went to work, and also for all the men still working in this industry that need answers too, so no other families go through this dreadful nightmare like us.”
Tia Huxtable, daughter of Mr Huxtable, said: “We as the family of Chris are deeply appalled that after six years, we still have no answers why my loving dad went to work on that fateful day and never returned home to us."
Hilda Palmer of FACK said: “The longer this goes on, the harder it is for the families, other demolition workers are at risk and it becomes less likely that any justice will be delivered.”
A Thames Valley Police statement said: "At this time we cannot put a timeframe on when the investigation will conclude, however I would like to be very clear that we will not stop in our pursuit of answers for the families.”
The HSE was invited to comment.