SAFETY nets could be installed to save lives at a Hornsey bridge for under £100,000, the owner of an abseiling firm has said.

Stuart Dargue, owner of industrial safety firm Acro Rope Access, said his offer to install the nets around Hornsey Lane Bridge was still on the table after a man in his 30s fell to his death into Archway Road on Monday afternoon.

Haringey Council turned down the £95,000 scheme – and a plan to install a free Samaritans telephone on the bridge to cut deaths – in June, saying it would not be an effective deterrent.

But after Monday's fall, and after police were called to the 60ft bridge on Tuesday after reports of a woman threatening to throw herself off, Mr Dargue said it was time action was taken.

He said: “I used to live next-door to the bridge and that's how I got involved – I used to see the police up there all the time.

“There's no need for these people to die – it's a very straightforward idea and it would halve the height of the fall to about the size of a double-decker bus.”

Three people committed suicide from the bridge in little more than three weeks last November, prompting the calls for action.