Supermarket chain Lidl was culpable of selling flammable furniture (Photo: Di’Medici under Creative Commons 3.0 Licence)
Bristol Crown Court heard that Alan Garton had been filling an acetylene cylinder when the acetylene became unstable. When a cylinder exploded he bore the brunt of the blast, sustaining horrific burns to his thigh, hands, groin, head and back.
The ensuing fire was allowed to burn under control for eight days before being extinguished by Avon FRS.
The blast also caused serious disruption to roads and rail services in the area before the blaze was extinguished.
BOC was fined £175,000 plus costs of £85,000 after admitting breaching s2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
Lidl fined for selling flammable furniture
Discount supermarket chain Lidl pleaded guilty to selling an unsafe chair-bed that failed fire safety tests and to incorrectly labelling the furniture. It had already sold 5,400 of the products, which were subsequently recalled nationwide.
The chair-bed had been bought from a Chesterfield store by Derbyshire County Council trading standards and sent for testing. It was deemed non-compliant with the flammability requirements of the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988.
Lidl had already been warned by Derbyshire County Council six years ago after a similar piece of upholstered furniture also failed flammability tests.
The German chain was fined a total of £3,000 plus costs of £1,200 by Chesterfield magistrates.
Berkshire pizza firm fails to deliver fire safety
Newbury pizza delivery company ONPJ has been fined a total of £21,000 plus £7,800 costs after pleading guilty to a string of fire safety offences under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRO).
The breaches set out at Maidenhead Magistrates’ Court included:
Laundry misused fire hydrant to reduce water bills
A Cornwall laundry has been found guilty of using an unauthorised standpipe to divert water into its premises via a fire hydrant in Torpoint. It also used a large rubber washer to make a meter under-record its use of water.
Illegal use of fire hydrants can compromise fire service efforts to supplement the water supply for firefighting or to supply or refill the tank in a fire appliance. Fire hydrants must only be used for this purpose.
Located underground UK fire hydrants are marked by yellow plates and the initials ’FH’.
Bodmin magistrates fined Tamar Laundry £750 plus £7,000 costs and ordered it to pay the maximum £5,000 in compensation for the water taken after it pleaded guilty in a case brought by South West Water.
Landlord and fire prevention company fined £40,000
A South Wales crime and fire prevention business and its landlord were together fined more than £40,000 after pleading guilty to a total of 17 breaches of the RRO.
South Wales Fire and Rescue Service brought the prosecution after fire broke out in a kitchen at the company’s premises in May 2012, injuring one of the occupants of the flats above.
Alpha Crime and Fire Prevention was fined £24,000 plus £5,000 costs by Cwmbran magistrates for six breaches of the RRO. The company failed to:
Landlord Jeffrey Colin Bufton was fined £18,000 plus £5,000 costs for 11 contraventions of the RRO including failing to provide:
Liverpool landlord found guilty of multiple RRO breaches
Liverpool magistrates fined Jeffrey Grant £1,300 with £2,300 costs after an inspection at a property he owned revealed a catalogue of fire safety contraventions including:
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