Action group wants cranes to be registered

The Battersea Crane Disaster Action Group (BCDAG) has rejected government claims that a central register of cranes is not needed.

It has previously demanded a register is created to ensure the safety of workers and the general public, an assertion backed up by the Work and Pensions Select Committee.

However, the group said the Department of Work and Pensions response to the Select Committee "fails to recognise this urgent need".

Liliana Alexa, secretary of the BCDAG and mother of Michael Alexa, who died in the Battersea crane collapse of 2006, said: "This information should be immediately available and the public should be able to access it. We’ll be doing everything we can to protest about the Government’s response."

The BCDAG was set up after a crane collapsed in Battersea, London, killing Jonathan Cloke and Michael Alexa in September 2006.

In January the group held a vigil for crane safety at the Adam Smith Institute in London and called for an "immediate safety blitz" of the construction industry.