Geoconsult £500,000 fine stays

The £500,000 fine and £100,000 costs imposed on Austrian consulting engineer Geoconsult for its part in the Heathrow Express tunnel collapse is to stay, the Court of Appeal decided last Friday (30 July).

Earlier in the week, the Judges had dismissed an appeal by the Salzburg practice against its conviction under the Health and Safety Act.

The company also appealed the fine and costs award saying that it could put it out of business, but this was rejected.

Lord Justice Beldam, said the industry had to be shown the seriousness of the responsibility which firms held to protect both their employees and the public.

Earlier this year at the Old Bailey, Geoconsult had pleaded not guilty to the charges. The firm had been employed by main contractor Balfour Beatty to design and supervise construction using the NATM (New Austrian Tunnelling Method) technique to form the tunnel. The tunnel collapsed on 20/21 October 1994, although nobody was injured.

At the Old Bailey hearing, Balfour Beatty pleaded guilty and was fined a then record £1.2 million plus £500,000 costs.

Last week, Lord Justice Beldam rejected criticisms of the trial judge who was said by Geoconsult to have misdirected the jury and miscalculated the costs.

Geoconsult claimed that it had been put to unnecessary expense because they had to research evidence produced by the prosecution which was later found to be inadmissible.

Lord Justice Beldam said "we are satisfied that the Judge exercised his discretion fairly and properly."