THE brother of a man who died after falling from a Nelson car park has welcomed new measures to help cut the number of deaths at the town centre multi-storey.

Phone numbers for the Samaritans have been put up after James Haselden, 42, became the fourth person in two years to fall to his death from the bus station car park.

Father-of-four James, 42, known as Jimmy, who lived at Pinfold Place, Nelson, was discovered by a passer-by on Friday, September 5, this year.

His brother John, 56, of Rutland Street, Nelson, spoke for the first time to welcome the news. He said: "Anything that may prevent anybody from doing something like this is good news.

"I know the car park is becoming a well known spot for people who have taken their own lives. James was very low at the time -- I don't know if the posters would have helped but anything that may make people think twice about their actions is a good thing."

Modus Property Developers, based in Manchester, who own the car park and Pendle Rise shopping complex in the town, said the facility had recently been refurbished in light of the tragic events.

At the time of a previous incident in October 2001 the family of Vaseem Azam, 27, of Ashford Street, called for the council to put up safety railings.

Eight months earlier Mehfooz Hussain, 33, of Lune Street, Colne, jumped from the car park to his death and in September 2000 Primet High School geography teacher Keith Ingham, 52, died after jumping from the same building.

A spokeswoman for the developers said: "We don't want to sound like we don't care but if somebody is intent on jumping then there's not a lot that can be done to stop it. We have already built a 5ft wallr.

"We were approached by somebody from the Samaritans who asked us if they could put posters. We don't usually allow this to happen but in light of the events, we thought it would be a good idea. It could be the difference between somebody jumping and somebody realising that there are other options available to them."

Colin Waite, Nelson councillor for Clover Hill ward, said the issue was discussed at last night's Nelson Community Safety Partnership meeting.

He added: "We think this idea from the Samaritans is a really good way of raising awareness from a well respected organisation.

"We are all in favour of finding new approaches to helping improve the situation at Nelson car park."

Following investigations by the community safety officer, Modus had been able to provide evidence of their security staff stopping people approaching the edge.

They had video footage of people stopped by their foot patrols, which was shown to police and families of those involved were informed.

Concern about the county's above-average suicide rate led to an urgent security review and a series of measures being recommended by Lancashire County Council's newly-formed health equalities overview and scrutiny committee.

In 2000, there were 117 suicides in Lancashire. A task group, set up by the health scrutiny committee, has now made a number of suggestions to tackle the problem.

These include considering a policy for putting up signs in car parks giving helpline numbers for those contemplating suicide and considering safety measures to discourage suicide attempts from Lancashire's high-risk buildings such as multi-storey car parks.

These recommendations are to go before Lancashire County Council's cabinet for endorsement.

A spokesman for the Samaritans said: "It's not about suicide prevention, it's about the greater message. Samaritans is known as a last call but we don't want people to get to the end of their tether before they call.

An inquest into Mr Haselden's death was due to be held today in Burnley.