WIND had previously caused problems by causing movement of equipment on a motorway bridge, an inquest into the deaths of four workmen heard yesterday.

Jeffrey Williams, 42, from Newport, Paul Stewart, 23, from Newcastle, Andrew Rodgers, 40, from Middles-brough, and Ronald Hill, 38, from Glasgow, all died from multiple injuries when the gantry they were working on, which was suspended under a bridge on the M5, collapsed.

David Leaman, employed as a chargehand on the bridge, yesterday told the inquest jury in Bristol that he had seen a gantry blown uphill along the beams under the bridge before.

Mr Leaman said he could not recall when he had seen the gantry moved by the wind, but did remember reporting it to superiors.

The jury heard various written statements from workers employed on the Avonmouth Bridge site in September 1999.

Malcolm Hunter, a welder, saw the gantry "swinging and hanging" and moving at a "fast pace" along the beam, before stopping.

Other witness statements, mainly from site engineers, described procedures and work carried out on the bridge, particularly on the gantries.

On Monday, a health and safety inspector told the jury that the accident on the Avonmouth M5 bridge near Bristol in September 1999, happened when the gantry was blown up the sloping beam.

He said that 'beam clamps' being used as brakes were "not reliable enough" and failed to stop it.

One end of the platform detached from the beams, leaving it hanging down. The hearing continues today.