THE firms responsible for a tragedy which cost the lives of four bridge workers now face a massive claim for compensation from bereaved relatives.

Families of the dead men last night pledged to take legal action to pursue claims against Darlington engineering group Yarm Road Ltd - formerly Kvaerner Cleveland Bridge - and Costain.

Yesterday, the companies were ordered to pay a £500,000 fine plus £525,000 costs for breach of health and safety regulations, the sum to be split equally.

The fine is one of the largest imposed under health and safety legislation.

Andy Rodgers, 40, of Middlesbrough; Paul Stewart, 24, of Newcastle; Ronnie Hill, 39, of Glasgow; and Jeff Williams, 42, of Newport, Gwent, died when they fell from a gantry while working on strengthening the Avonmouth Bridge, which carries the M5 near Bristol, on September 8, 1999.

Delivering his sentence at Bristol Crown Court yesterday, Mr Justice Owen said: "Perhaps the most tragic feature of this case is the accident could and should have been prevented by a number of simple measures.

"This is not a case of a single and isolated fault on the part of the defendants.

"It should not have required a tragedy of these dimensions to alert them to these failures."

The court had heard that the workmen were flung 80ft to their death after risks to safety were ignored.

Despite the size of the fine, the families condemned the sentence as "disgraceful" and confirmed their intentions to pursue a civil case for compensation against both companies.

The parents of all the victims called for a change in the law so that companies and their directors could be held personally responsible and liable for such tragedies.

Brian Freeman, of Newcastle solicitors Browell Smith and Co, issued a statement on behalf of the families.

It said: "Considering the gross and appalling failures of the companies, and assets of the companies, we do not feel this fine will have the deterrent effect necessary to force companies to ensure that safety is paramount above profit and to ensure that such an accident could not happen again.

"We have suffered terribly as a result of their failings and we will continue to do so for the rest of our lives.

"We call upon the Government to implement changes to the law which will hold companies and their directors personally responsible and liable for events such as this."

Yarm Road admitted two offences under the Health and Safety Act and Costain admitted one count.

Paul Stewart and Andrew Rodgers were both members of the GMB union.

Regional secretary Kevin Curran said: "Ten times the fine that has been imposed would not reconcile the loss of life and the suffering that has been caused."

A spokesman for Yarm Road said that while the firm accepted its failings, the mistakes had not been deliberate.

Paul Emberley said: "The management team of Yarm Road would like to reinstate their very sincere condolences to the families of these men who died in this tragic accident.

"We will continue to co-operate fully with all the relevant authorities to ensure that lessons learned from this accident will help secure the highest level of safety humanly possible."

Mr Emberley said he was aware that civil proceedings were to be pursued by the families but declined to comment further.

The mother of Paul Stewart revealed that her son had often complained of inadequate safety procedures at the site.

Fran Stewart said: "He often said that he was scared at times seeing some of the things that were going on while he was there."