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HOSPITALITY

New company owners exempt

THE KNOWLEDGE PROSECUTIONS
from paying £140k fine over

fatal fall at Silverstone

A judge has ruled that the new owners
of a company that provided temporary
accommodation in the run-up to the
2016 British Grand Prix are discharged

from paying the £140,000 fine that
was imposed on the business in a
subsequent criminal case.

THE CRIMINAL CASE
The GB Health and Safety Executive
(HSE) had brought the prosecution
after its investigation found that
Snoozebox’s previous owners had
failed to manage work on a barn
roof safely at the site in Silverstone,
A contractor fell from a barn roof
Northamptonshire, in August 2016. on the Silverstone motor-racing site
A contractor had fallen through a
4.6m tall barn roof and died from
his injuries. schedule of repayments to the creditors. JUDGE’S COMMENTS
To save costs, one of the directors However, that did not happen in Judge Rebecca Crane said there was a
turned down a £5000 quote from this case. As Chris MacQueen, director failure to carry out even the most basic
another contractor and hired someone at Cardium Law, explained to IOSH checks to ensure that either no work at
he had previously worked with who magazine, the main creditor, SQN Asset height was being carried out or, if it was,
quoted £200, the court was told. He Finance Income Fund, agreed to ‘give that the appropriate safety procedures
did not ask to see any documentation up’ its secured rights and any rights were in place. She also told the court that
to demonstrate his competence, to dividends in exchange for taking text messages showed a ‘clear desire’ to
experience and expertise to safely ownership of the company. keep costs low. One of the texts asked the
complete the work required. ‘This meant that all of the unsecured contractor to wear personal protective
creditors got more than 90p in the pound equipment, indicating an obvious lack
THE CIVIL CASE rather than nothing,’ he said. ‘SQN then of preparedness.
Following the fatality, Snoozebox’s subsequently sold the company to its new However, Judge Crane agreed that

previous owners faced insolvency owners – and that is how they got some any fines levied by the criminal court in
and abandoned the barn adaptation. return on their secured debt.’ relation to the fatality could not be enforced
When liquidators came in, they This change of ownership took place as because the CVA process discharged all the
recommended a creditors’ voluntary the HSE investigation into the fatality was company’s liabilities. PHOTOGRAPHY: HSE / GETTY / SHUTTERSTOCK
agreement (CVA). ongoing and its subsequent prosecution
When a CVA takes place, the was delayed in part because of the Get more detail in our online story:
insolvent company typically agrees a COVID-19 lockdown. ioshmagazine.com/snoozebox

14 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 | IOSHMAGAZINE.COM

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