THE families of the three missing men at Didcot Power Station have been told the change of contractors for the recovery operation will happen next week.

After the announcement on Monday that Coleman & Co will be removed from the recovery operation, the handover is expected to occur on May 15.

It has been more than 10 weeks since half of the boiler house collapsed, which killed worker Mick Collings and trapped Chris Huxtable, 34, from Swansea, Ken Cresswell, 57, and John Shaw, 61 both from Rotherham.

Steve Hall, son-in-law of Mr Cresswell, said the family had been bombarded with information at their last meeting on Wednesday and were told Colemans would hand over the recovery work next Sunday.

The 45-year-old automotive engineer said: "It is a lot to take in, it was a lot of information.

"We have been told it is actually a handover, that is what we are lead to believe will happen on the 15th.

"At the minute our family are saying no comment. We need to take some time to take everything in and try to digest it all.

"We just need to be together and support each other."

Coleman & Co will hand over their duties to Brown and Mason, a demolition company based in Kent, as the search for the three workers trapped underneath the remains of a 10-storey building continues.

The reasons for the change in contractor were to safeguard employee welfare and to preserve "critical evidence".

Kelly Nye, a spokesperson for RWE the owners of the site, could not, however, confirm the exact date of the handover.

She said: "It will be a seamless handover in the next two weeks.

"It will be a continuation of the recovery work so it will not stop because of new workers coming on site.

"But there is no exact timeframe at the moment for the recovery operation.

"Things could change at any time but recovery work obviously continues until the workers reach the exclusion zone.

"There is still no timeframe or date on when the main structure is coming down."

A statement from Coleman & Co said it found it "hugely disappointing" it would no longer be involved in the recovery work.

The demolition company will remain as the principal contractor for the wider site and will resume their work once the recovery operation is complete.