Two fined £6k for scaffold crash

Two companies have been fined a total of £6,000 after scaffolding crashed down on a busy Birmingham city centre street in November 2003.

The structure, weighing more than 6t and 50m long, toppled in a domino-like effect, causing shoppers and office staff to flee, Birmingham Crown Court heard.

Xiomara Taylor, 18, a salesforce operative, who had just left work, was knocked unconscious. She spent five days in hospital, suffered a massive cut running from ear to ear and three weeks after the accident had a lot of back and neck pain.

Kelmark Scaffolding and M&J Flat Roofing each admitted a charge under Construction, Health, Safety and Welfare Regulations.

Kelmark, based in Birmingham, was fined £4,000 and Bedford-based M&J £2,000. Each was ordered to pay £3,500 costs.

Bernard Thorogood, prosecuting, said the scaffolding had been put up the previous evening in order for work to be carried out on a flat canopy roof.

He added that the fundamental error had been made of erecting the scaffolding without tying it to the building. It had also been sheeted as a safety measure but this had increased its vulnerability to winds.