Four men who died during Severn Bridge works honoured with plaque

Pete Neale hopes that as well as honouring the memories of the men, the plaque will serve as a reminder of the danger of construction work

A memorial plaque to four men who died while working on the Severn Bridge has been officially dedicated.

John Short, Eric Sullivan, Robin Phelps and Kevin Hoskins died in three separate industrial accidents between 1989 and 1991.

Mr Sullivan's wife, Margaret, said she felt comforted to know there was a lasting memorial to the men.

The idea came from retired construction manager, Pete Neale, who knew three of the men.

The four men died during a major programme of works to the bridge, which began operating in September 1966.

The plaque is on the Aust side of the bridge and has been up since last year but had not yet been officially dedicated until now because of the pandemic.

Family, friends and former colleagues of the four men attended Friday's service at the bridge

The service was attended by family, friends and former colleagues of the men.

Mrs Sullivan, whose children were nine and four when their father died, said: "Obviously, I will never forget this event that happened 31 years ago.

"Sometimes it feels like yesterday and other times it feels like Eric has been gone forever.

"His name will always be there and will always be remembered, few of us can say that.

"And as people walk over the bridge and look at that and see his name, along with the other people who unfortunately died on the bridge, it is nice to think there is a memorial for them."

Eric Sullivan and Robin Phelps died when a gantry under the bridge collapsed into the river

Mr Short, from Caldicot, Monmouthshire, was 42 when he died. He fell during work to replace a lift in one of the towers on 18 January 1989.

Mr Phelps, 43, from Brockweir, Gloucestershire, and 46-year-old Mr Sullivan, from Tintern, Monmouthshire, were in a maintenance gantry on the underside of the bridge deck when it fell into the river on 4 September 1990.

Another man on the gantry at the time survived the 165ft (50-metre) fall.

Mr Hoskins, 34, from Patchway, Bristol, died in an incident in one of the towers on the Aust side on 27 November 1991.

They had all been carrying out strengthening works on behalf of the Highways Agency and the then Avon County Council.

A massive search and rescue operation was launched following the gantry collapse on 4 September 1990

Mr Neale hopes that as well as honouring the memories of the men, the plaque will serve as a reminder of the danger of construction work.

He said: "I always thought that there should be a memorial, not only to honour the men but also to highlight the fact that construction is a dangerous business.

"Apart from the impact on the families, we need to think about what happened and what went wrong and make sure it doesn't happen again.

"But the focus today is for the families and their loved ones. Although this is over 30 years on, I don't think there was ever really closure for them. The feeling I have [from them now] is that this is some kind of closure."