News & Events
News & Events
On 2 December at Stafford Crown Court Lee Cottrill, a company director, was sentenced to 3 months imprisonment suspended for 12 months for health and safety offences. Mr Cottrill was for 20 years a company director of Albion and Tower Scaffolding and had admitted that whilst a director of Albion he has consented or connived in the construction of an unsafe system of scaffolding built around a warehouse outside Burton on Trent. Tim Green was instructed by the HSE to prosecute the case. Three other defendants also pleaded guilty. The Judge found that in respect of each defendant their breach of health and safety law was a significant cause of death. The total fines and costs imposed exceeded £150,000.
News 3 Dec, 2014
Outer Temple Chambers has been instructed by the Environment Agency in an enforcement action taken against 3 companies, their directors and managers. The case is one of the most significant waste prosecutions ever brought. On 3 October 2014 Tim appeared at the PCMH in the case before His Honour Judge Piers-Higgins sitting at Hereford Crown Court. The Judge was told that the regulator alleges the defendants saved at least £2m in landfill charges by depositing over 60,000 tonnes waste unlawfully in a quarry in Shropshire. Two defendants admitted offences contrary to the Environmental Permitting Regulations. Their cases were adjourned for sentence. The case against the 3 corporate defendants and 3 other individuals was adjourned for trial following not guilty pleas.…
News 12 Oct, 2014
At a hearing on 10 October before Judge Zara, Tim Green successfully defended Birmingham City Council against an application for a Litter Abatement Order made by John Hemming MP. Mr Hemming had challenged the Council’s policy of charging £35 per household for collecting green waste from homes across Birmingham. The charging policy was introduced in February 2014 after enabling legislation came into force in 2012. Whilst 50,000 households in Birmingham now pay for the green bins to be collected doubling the amount of green waste recycled and saving the Council £2.5m, other households had ignored the charge and simply fly-tipped their green waste in the streets. The Council had a policy of dealing with fly-tipping by taking steps to educate…
News 9 Oct, 2014
They were invited to speak to over 150 Health & Safety Lawyers and Professionals on the emerging trends in Corporate Manslaughter prosecutions and sentencing. The lecture focused primarily on the prosecution of the Princess Sporting Club and also considered the recent costs order made against the HSE in the Binnings case. Ben is Head of Outer Temple Chambers Health & Safety Team and is recognised as a leading expert on Corporate Manslaughter prosecutions and investigations. James was retained as Counsel for the Princes Sporting Club. Download the Lecture Pack here.
News 15 May, 2014
After a 3 year battle, the HSE finally offered no evidence against Balticare Ltd, the sister company of Balticare Aircoil Ltd (a manufacturer of cooling towers in the USA), at Shrewsbury Crown Court. The HSE, had been alleging design faults on the FXV and CXV Evaporative Condensers installed in the UK from the late 1990’s and despite the fact that there had never been any outbreak of legionella and against a background of substantial co-operation by Balticare, decided to charge the company with breaching Section 6(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The case was vigorously contested and included an abuse of process application; however shortly before the listed hearing the HSE abandoned their position accepting that…
News 1 Oct, 2013
Richard Lissack QC and Nicholas Hill successfully defend an international property management company (with over 1,100 sites in the UK) against a prosecution brought by the London Borough of Havering. The case, listed across two weeks at Snaresbrook Crown Court, concluded after two days following cross-examination of the Prosecution’s expert Consultant Engineer, the Prosecution accepting that they no longer had a realistic prospect of securing a conviction. The case was based on an alleged breach of s4 of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 following serious injury to a 12 year old boy resulting from his deliberate misuse of a flying escalator installation. The Defence case was founded on three principal arguments: (i) that the prosecution was…
News 10 Sep, 2013
Three members of the Outer Temple Health & Safety team are currently engaged in the three month inquest arising out of the July 2009 tower block fire at Lakanal House, Camberwell, South London, in which six residents tragically died. Ben Compton QC and James Leonard, leading Robert Dickason, represent two of the construction companies involved.
News 13 Feb, 2013
Ben Compton QC secures acquittal for Anna Ryder Richardson on a section 37 Health & Safety at work charge when a falling tree, at her wildlife park in Pembrokeshire, fell and severely injured a little boy and his mother.
News 14 Nov, 2012
Outer Temple Chambers has been recommended as a Top Tier Set in Health & Safety. The chambers also received 8 recommendations in the following practice areas: banking and finance, clinical negligence and healthcare, crime, employment, fraud: crime, pensions, personal injury and professional discipline and regulatory law. 14 QCs are listed in the “Leading silks” list, The Legal 500 United Kingdom 2012’s guide to outstanding silks nationwide.
News 19 Sep, 2012
Ben Compton QC and Will Young have recently agreed to act pro bono for Friends of the Earth, the Soil Association and Pig Business in opposing a planning application for a US style mega pig farm in South Derbyshire to be built within 150 yards to HM prison Foston Hall, and a residential housing estate in South Derbyshire. The case has attracted considerable media attention due to the size of the farm (some 25,000 pigs) and the serious health concerns raised by those living and working in the nearby community. Further information can be found at: The Guardian (10 Feb) Town kicks up a stink over ‘Titan’ pig farm: The Independent (11 Feb, p.26) Human rights claim against Foston pig farm: MeatInfo.co.uk (13 Feb)
News 14 Feb, 2012
