Builder fined over decorations fall

A building company has been hit with a £12,000 fine after Christmas decorations it had been employed to secure on a high street collapsed and injured two members of the public.

The incident in St Neots could easily have resulted in tragedy as the festive decorations narrowly missed a baby.

Broadland (Builders) Limited, which is based in Buckinghamshire, was sub-contracted to install anchor bolts to secure the decorations at several locations within the Cambridgeshire town centre.

A large piece of masonry was pulled down from near the top of the building housing the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society by the decoration, which meant that the masonry, fixing and decoration all fell to the pavement below.

The metal frame of the decoration and the masonry hit a passing car in the incident on November 29, 2007, Huntingdon Magistrates’ Court heard.

Elena Giddens, 39 at the time of the incident and formerly of Eynesbury Manor in the town was knocked unconscious when masonry landed on her. She had five stitches to her head and suffered three broken ribs and a punctured lung.

Her friend, Anne Beck, then 35 and also of Eynesbury Manor, had been pushing her seven-month-old son, Myles, in his pram along the High Street. She dived on top of the pram to protect Myles before she and Mrs Giddens pushed the pram away from the falling debris. Ms Beck sustained three broken fingers and bruising to her arm, hand and back.

At Huntingdon Magistrates’ Court, the director of Broadland (Builders) Limited, John Fifield, pleaded guilty to breaching section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

The company whose registered address is Euro House, 1394 High Road, London, N20 9YZ, was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay £4250 costs.