In the wake of the Garley inferno when four people were rescued from the top of the Nathan Road building, fire officers warned against using the roof as an escape route because fire and smoke go upwards.

'After the Garley fire, the management put up notices warning there was no access to the rooftop in the case of a fire,' Wong Wai-sum said.

'I was against this as I knew the roof could be a real escape. If a fire broke out on the ground floor, there would be no way for people to go downstairs.

'My mother managed to escape in another Mei Foo fire several years ago as she was able to go up to the roof. But this time she died.' Mr Wong, an executive officer with the Urban Services Department, told the inquest that on the day of the fire his mother, Li Wai-hing, 81, was looking after his 14-year old son, Wong Chun-wing, who was sick.

The father-of-three wept as he told how Chun-wing phoned him at noon to tell him a fire had broken out.

'He was unclear as to where the flames were coming from,' he said.

'So, I allowed my son and mother to leave the flat. That was a mistake.' Mr Wong said he hoped the management would review the practice of keeping exit doors to the roof locked.

'Many have escaped to the roof and been saved by the Fire Department in the past, so I hope the management office will review this practice. I don't want to see more people die in fires.' The nine relatives who testified yesterday said no fire drills had ever taken place in the block.

Sze Ming-cheong, whose 53-year-old wife Anna Sze Chan Lai-on died, said: 'I have lived in Mei Foo for 11 years and never once have there been fire practices or have we received instructions on what to do in the case of fire.' Coroner Ian Thomas heard how the two smoke doors on each floor were often defective or left wedged open by cleaners.

'The cleaners may have left the doors open using wood or paper wedges, for their own convenience,' Mr Wong said. 'Broken hinges on the doors remained broken for several months.' The inquest continues.