On Saturday 29 January, I left my in-laws' house in Wadham Road, Bootle, and headed for the Strand Precinct to buy myself a shirt. As I reached the junction with Stanley Road a building fell down in front of me. I saw a man leap from the top of it. There was a crash and bricks spilled out into the road, pulling the scaffolding down with them. Another man was pinned between the falling building and the scaffolding. There was a cloud of dust as the noise grew, then it was quiet. This, more or less, was the substance of my witness statement a week later to the local Health and Safety Executive inspector.

'What did you do then?'

'I ran back to my in-laws to call for help. Then I returned to the site. There was a man lying on his back shouting that there were at least two more still inside. The people who had arrived at the site couldn't go near because the block was unsafe. If we'd touched it the whole lot would have come down.'

The inspector paused. 'Did you get your shirt?'

LRB 16 March 2000 | PDF Download