A WOMAN engineer died after BT failed to act on warnings about the safety of the telephone pole she had climbed, an inquest heard on Wednesday.

Tara Whelan, 24, fell 20ft from a pole at Marsh Road, Hilperton, in June 2001, after a passing lorry snagged cables.

BT was notified of defects in the pole by an employee in autumn 1999 but a notice condemning it and warning others not to climb it was removed after a second inspection just months later.

Ms Whelan suffered severe head injuries when a 32-tonne lorry driven by a Northampton man hit the cable, snapping the pole and throwing her into the road. She died in hospital two weeks later.

BT pole tester Michael Sheppard, who carried out the first inspection, told the inquest he noticed the pole was leaning towards the road and that the wires were not up to the required 5.5 metres above the road.

Mr Shepp-ard, an engineer with 24 years experience, recommended a replacement pole should be larger and stronger and a stay should be added to support it as it was on a bank.

In February 2000 another tester, John Stickland, carried out a revalidation exercise in Trowbridge, looking at all the notices put on poles to decide if they really needed to be acted on or could be removed.

He told the inquest he did not remember the exact pole but that he would have checked it thoroughly before he recommended it did not need replacing.

Records show he also notified BT that the cables were slightly lower than they should be, but he decided it did not need replacing and removed the notice.

He said: "That pole would not have been dangerous if I left it I guarantee that."

Both the engineers told the inquest they had not considered the work on the pole was needed urgently and the wires were only slightly lower than they should be.

Miss Whelan, from Salisbury, had worked for BT for three years. She was called out to repair a broken cable going to a house in the road.

It is believed she had finished her work and was on her way down the pole when the accident happened.

The inquest was opened and adjourned a year ago when Wiltshire coroner David Masters ordered the police to carry out further investigations after claims emerged the pole was dangerous.

The inquest continues.