In a hole lot of trouble
by Hammersmith and Fulham Press Office
18/11/2008
Dangerous road works have landed two big name companies in hot water and left them out of pocket.
Thames Water was told to pay £5,031.35 in fines, costs and victim’s surcharges at magistrate’s court last month, while construction company Firmco had to pay £1,875.
Thames Water pleaded guilty to not providing correct safety measures when carrying out excavation works on two separate occasions earlier in the year.
On October 28, West London Magistrates Court heard how, in February this year, an inspector from Hammersmith & Fulham Council visited a site on the junction of Lakeside Road and Blythe Road. When he arrived he found that the whole site was a mess, dangerous and causing serious disruption to residents and motorists alike.
Equipment had been left on the pavement without proper barriers around it, a compressor was left in the middle of the road unguarded and there were not enough barriers to keep the site safe. Workers had also dug a trench in the road without considering the effect it would have on the flow of two-way traffic.
Thames Water was also fined for dangerous works at Chesilton Road in January where contractors using a JCB digger to excavate the road did not put up enough barriers to shield pedestrians from the work site.
The JCB was parked across the road and the trench stretched almost the entire length of the carriageway, blocking off access to traffic illegally. The contractors had also left various equipment and a generator in the road with little guarding.
Construction company Firmco was also prosecuted when its workers illegally dug up the pavement and then reinstated it without permission from the council.
In September 2007 Firmco contractors secretly dug out paving slabs on Rylett Road before concreting over damage they had caused with their machinery.
A worker from Firmco was then found months later, in January, trying to dig up the concrete that had been illegally laid the previous year so that new slabs could be laid - again without permission from H&F Council.
Firmco paid for the repairs to the footway in the same month and the council arranged for the pavement to be correctly reinstated. Firmco was fined £700 and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £15 and full costs of £1,1160, bringing it to a total of £1,875.
Councillor Nicholas Botterill, deputy leader of H&F Council and cabinet member for environment, said: “This is yet another case where workers thought rules laid down to ensure pedestrians, motorists and even workers themselves stay safe could be tossed aside.
“Thames Water and Firmco showed little thought for anyone and I hope that their punishment teaches them a lesson and acts as a warning to other companies."
