04.08.2009

WD Bennett charged £389,000

WD Bennett the failed UK tower crane rental company has been fined £125,000 plus £264,299 in costs. This adds to £51,000 already levied on Bennett’s subsidiary Eurolift earlier this year.

With the company as a whole currently undergoing liquidation following the sale of the business assets to Edward Seager there is little or no chance of the fines or costs being paid.

Vertikal Comment

One assumes that these fines are meant as an example to others, given that the chance of implementing the fine and collecting any money is almost zero. This final step in the process of investigating, prosecuting and trying this case brings an end to a scandalous example of handling an accident by the HSE.

In spite of the ludicrous length of the process – over 4.5 years from accident to verdict – the key lessons to be learnt and a key fact of the accident were not properly revealed or discussed.

At least this travesty is now behind us.