A Bristol pensioner died after aircraft manufacturing giant Airbus and its partner firm Bristol Areo Collection failed to ensure health and safety at its Filton-based Concorde exhibition, a court heard.

Bristol Crown Court was told on Wednesday that 72-year-old Horace Livall stepped from a gap at the side of a gantry while taking a photo at the exhibit, falling 2.5 metres down the aircraft's wing and then a further 4.5 metres onto concrete.

The former milkman from Southmead suffered serious head and chest injuries and, though he received emergency first aid at the scene, he died in hospital a short time later.

Airbus UK Limited and BAC Trading Limited both admit a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act in September 2004.

James Bennett, prosecuting, told the court Airbus, estimated at the end of 2007 to have a turnover in excess of £1.8 billion, took custody of the decommissioned Concorde aircraft from BA in December 2003.

While Airbus organised a visitor centre and access to the aircraft, BAC Trading Limited was a charity, whose volunteers staffed the exhibit for public tours.

Mr Bennett said it was the prosecution's case that attempts to form a working relationship by Airbus and BAC failed, and, in July 2004, Airbus, through its contractors, supplied an unsafe gantry to view the aircraft, with no agreement for checking it or ensuring health and safety.

Mr Bennett said the crux of the matter was that the aircraft was difficult to display safely because, when it was drained of fluids, it was unclear about how it would stand, and it was also deemed to be priceless and therefore shouldn't be damaged.

The court heard that the result was a gantry to give access to the aircraft, which fell short of joining to it, and a temporary wooden plinth had to be constructed to give access, which had no handrails and had gaps each side.

Judge Julian Lambert will decide on sentence after mitigation from both Airbus and BAC Trading Limited concludes today.

The prosecution has applied for a total of £59,716 in costs.

At an inquest into Mr Livall's death held last June, a jury condemned the people responsible for opening Concorde 216 to the public for a series of health and safety failures.

Exhibition organiser Bristol Aero Collection (BAC) and Airbus UK, which owns Filton airfield, were both criticised at the end of the inquest.

After almost four hours of deliberation the jury returned an open verdict yesterday and emphasised three key factors in the tragic events that unfolded that day.

They pointed to a "failure to conduct a thorough risk assessment" after the gantry was built, the lack of written or verbal communication between Airbus and BAC on health and safety issues and an "unsatisfactory duty of care".