AN inquest has been told that an artist stopped a giant inflatable being evacuated after the floor rose up hours before it broke its moorings, killing two women and injuring 27 other visitors.

Tony Davies, from Liverpool, worked on the Dreamspace exhibition at the Riverside Park in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, in July 2006 an inquest into the tragedy heard yesterday.

He was inside cleaning up pools of condensation when the floor rose up. Mr Davies said the lift was between 30 and 60cm and a wave went through the multicoloured PVC walk-in sculpture.

He said he told visitors to get out, but that Maurice Agis – the artwork’s creator – thought differently.

“I did think it was a potentially dangerous situation,’’ he said.

“Maurice came in and reassured them and reassured me it was okay. By that time the wave had gone and people stayed inside.’’ It was the second such incident that day and there had been others when Dreamspace was previously displayed outside Liverpool Cathedral.

Mr Davies said the artist told him and colleague Michael Gunnigle to fix extra peg and rope moorings.

He estimated there had been 24 anchors to begin with.

But he later told them to stop that and work on admissions because he and his partner needed a break.

Mr Davies, who said he thought the artwork was “bulbous’’ and over-inflated, went for something to eat and saw the structure take off without warning.

He and Mr Gunnigle worked for Liverpool arts promoter Brouhaha International, whose managing director is the late artist’s son Giles Agis.

Mr Agis said the company promoted the Liverpool show but had just provided manpower for the Chester-le-Street event.

He said his father had 40 years experience in “pneumatic art’’ and would have designed the anchorage based on that experience.

He had no engineering expertise.

Both Mr Davies and Mr Agis gave their condolences to the families of Claire Furmedge and Elizabeth Anne Collings who died in the tragedy.

The jury saw CCTV footage of Dreamspace breaking its moorings and rising into the air and crashing against the camera pylon.

The jury heard that Maurice Agis said in his police statement there had been no problems during the Liverpool exhibition.

He was standing at the back of Dreamspace when it rose up at Chester-le-Street. He tried in vain to grab hold of it, but could not stop it rising 20 metres.

He said there was no wind at the time and the only thing he could think had caused the accident was “extreme heat’’.

Mr Agis said the structure had been given a health and safety inspection and he did not think there had been any breach of regulations, adding: “I was completely shocked at what happened”.

The inquest continues today.