Boland Construction conviction reversed

Boland Construction (Scotland), which was convicted and fined after two children were killed in an accident four years ago near one of its sites, has had its conviction overturned.

In August 1999, Danielle Welsh, 5, and her brother William, 6, were struck by a lorry close to an extension to the Muirhouse Shopping Centre in Edinburgh, being built by Boland.

Originally, the Crown at Edinburgh Sheriff Court found Boland had breached the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and fined it £75,000.

However, Lord Justice Clerk Lord Gill and two other judges have now upheld the appeal, deeming that because the accident was on a public highway insufficiently close to the site for control to be exercised, it was not in breach of any duty.

Pedestrians were able to use the access road leading to the construction site, which did not have a footpath.

Lord Gill said: "The photographs of the area taken immediately after the accident demonstrate the obvious dangers that arose from the lack of any segregation of vehicle and pedestrian traffic."

He criticised the local authority, which in his view had responsibility, and ruled that the sheriff should have upheld a submission of no case to answer at the first juncture.