In April last year, following a 7 day trial, a jury convicted the company that operates Warwick Castle of two health and safety offences. The prosecution followed an accident in December 2007 when George Townley, a visitor to the Castle, fell 14 feet from the Bear & Clarence Bridge, suffering fatal head injuries. The trial judge fined Merlin Attractions Operations Ltd. (Merlin) £350,000 and awarded Warwick District Council, prosecuting, £145,000 costs.
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Merlin stated that the fine was “manifestly excessive” because the trial judge acknowledged that this was an isolated lapse in what was otherwise a good health and safety system.
The Company took the case to the Court of Appeal in London which conducted a hearing on 2 August 2012. In their 17 page judgement on 13 December, the Appeal Court judges rejected Merlin’s appeal.
The Court held that the trial judge was clearly entitled to conclude, as he did, that there had been a serious breach of Merlin’s (the appellant) health and safety systems in relation to the Bear and Clarence Bridge. The breach had resulted in an obvious danger of at least serious injury (not so much in relation to adults, but in relation to children) to which a very large number of people had been exposed over many years. The danger had been the product, in part, of a failure to react appropriately to advice given in 2003.
The Appeal Court said:
“Notwithstanding the appellant’s generally good health and safety systems, its good record and the other mitigating features, and given the necessary inference as to its wealth, it seems to us that the judge was entitled to conclude that the total fine had to be measured in hundreds of thousands of pounds, and that the total actually imposed of £350,015 was within the appropriate range”.
Councillor Michael Coker, Portfolio Holder for the Environment, said:
“By rejecting this appeal, the Court of Appeal has vindicated the Council’s action in taking the prosecution. It is essential that employers maintain suitable health and safety standards in their workplaces. When companies substantially fall below the required standard, it is important that such companies, however large or well thought of, are brought to account. A core function of the Council is to continue to ensure that Warwick District Council is a safe place to live, work and visit.”
