29/03/2010 - Three guilty of gas safety breach
Two landlords and a gas service engineer have been fined for breaching safety laws after a woman and her young daughter were affected by carbon monoxide.
Motoko Riley was at home in Portswood Road, Southampton with her six-year-old daughter Emily when the pair fell ill in December 2007.
Emily started drifting in and out of conciousness, while Mrs Riley suffered headaches and started vomiting.
After numerous warnings over a four year period to get the boiler serviced, joint landlords and brothers Robert and David Watts failed to do so.
The Health and Safety Executive launched legal action, and at Southampton Magistrates' Court the men, from Woodlands, were both fined.
Both pleaded guilty to breaching safety laws and were handed a £7,000 fines. They were also ordered to pay costs of £4,500 each.
Gas service engineer David MacDonald was also found guilty of safety breaches after it was heard he certified the boiler was safe to use on three occasions when in fact it was not.
MacDonald, of Hythe, was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £548 costs.
Copyright © Press Association 2010
Related links
|
