A 2004 proposal to repair a corroded section of a highway that later collapsed, killing a family of five, was lost in a computer system, a senior Gosford City Council worker has told a Sydney inquest.
The council made a request for Tyko Water Services to assess rust damage to a section of the Old Pacific Highway at Piles Creek, Somersby, on the NSW Central Coast in August 2004.
The company returned a quotation for the work, thought to be for about $275,000, which was to have been uploaded onto the council's internal data works system.
However, the quotation was somehow lost, Gosford council's director of city services Stephen Glen told Glebe Coroner's Court today.
Nearly two years later, in June last year, that part of the highway collapsed and Adam Holt, 30, drove into the chasm, along with his partner Roslyn Bragg, 29, their daughters Madison, 2, and Jasmine, 3, and Ms Bragg's nine-year-old nephew Travis. None survived.
After the incident, the council's attempts to recover evidence of the lost tender were fruitless, Mr Glen said.
"Records couldn't find it," he told the court.
"Your understanding is the quotation did not find its way into the data works system," counsel assisting the coroner, Paul Menzies, asked.
"Yes," he replied.
Mr Glen said he had never seen the quotation document, but that might simply have been because the work was not deemed to be necessary by council.
He said he would have seen the document if council intended to go ahead with the repairs.
Earlier today, Peter Wilson, the council's general manager, described the computerised work flow system adopted at the council in 2000 as "robust", but said it had been since been enhanced to minimise the risk of losing quotes.
The inquest continues.
