Poundstretcher fined £1 million after health and safety breaches at stores including Newbury

Poundstretcher was fined after health and safety breaches (Pic South Wales Echo)

A budget shop chain will have to make its money go a long way after being fined a whopping £1 million for health and safety breaches.

Staff from Poundstretcher have admitted 24 counts brought against it by local authorities, including three in Newbury, Berkshire.

The investigation at the store in Newbury Retail Park followed a visit from West Berkshire Council’s Environmental Health Officers in 2014, where they found emergency exits were blocked and excessive stock was stored in a dangerous way.

Further enquiries revealed the company broke its own health and safety policies.

More breaches were found at stores in Swindon and Newhaven.

Representatives from the company were in Portsmouth Crown Court on Tuesday, December 12, where the company received the huge fine and a serious telling off from judge Roger Hetherington.

After hearing how the Huddersfield-based company tried to put the blame for the breaches on local staff, he said: “To blame the local management is not only deeply unattractive, coming from a major employer employing some 6,000 people, but, in my judgment, on the evidence I heard, quite unfair.

"And it is, in any event, a circular argument – it is part of higher management’s function to see to it that local management is in place and performing to a proper standard.”

He went on to say: “This complacent attitude was highlighted by the way in which senior management, often at director/company secretary level, dealt with requests for interview by enforcing authorities.

"Whilst, as a matter of strict law, the company may have been entitled not to co-operate, their consistent failure properly to engage with and answer questions spoke volumes as to the company’s attitude towards the role of the enforcing authorities.”

Poundstretcher was fined £1 million, £333,334 of which is to do with the three offences in Newbury. The company also has to fork out costs of £65,767.74

Councillor Norman Jorgensen, chairman of the Joint Public Protection Committee, said: “The importance of the work that the service carries out to ensure that health and safety laws are complied with is demonstrated by this case.

“This conviction and penalty highlights the importance of taking steps to protect the health and safety of employees and members of the public as well as emphasising the importance that employee training plays in this process.

“It also represents an excellent example of three authorities working together to put the totality of the offending before the court.

"We are grateful to our colleagues from Swindon Borough Council and Lewes District Council for their assistance."