Today,
Dorset Fire Authority successfully prosecuted the owner of a house in
multiple occupation, for failing to respond to requests for
information from the fire authority. The premises came to the
attention of the Dorset Fire and Rescue Service following a number of
failed attempts by Bournemouth Borough Council to identify the
responsible person for the premises. The fire service undertake
regular inspections of house in multiple occupation with the local
authority who are jointly responsible for ensuring the building is
safe in case of a fire.
It
is important that the fire service identifies the correct responsible
person before any enforcement action can begin and to be able to
issue an Enforcement Notice for repairs to the fire alarm system.
Investigation
work by members of the fire safety team’s, identified that Mr Kerr
was believed to be the responsible person and An Article 27 (request
for Information under The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005)
letter was sent to his known address.
Mr
Matthew Kerr failed to respond to one letter that had been sent to
him to enable the service to identify who the responsible person was
for an address in Boscombe. Following a further two letters and a
number of telephone conversations with Mr Kerr were recorded however
Mr Kerr remained non compliant and a prosecution case was taken.
The
court hearing was held today at Wimborne Magistrates where the
Service was advised that an adjournment had been requested by Mr Kerr
and a not guilty plea had been suggested.
Due
to Mr Kerr’s previous history of deliberate non compliance, Fire
Safety Enforcement Manager Angus Nairn asked the county solicitor to
advise the court that the Service did not accept the request for an
adjournment and asked for the case to be heard in the absence of Mr
Kerr.
The
request was accepted and Mr Kerr was found guilty on two counts of
failure to respond to Article 27 letters. Each failure to respond
received a fine of £900.00, with full costs of £1254.62, awarded by
the magistrates. The total of all fines and costs totalled £3514.04
Station
Manager Nairn stated “We welcome this clear message sent out by the
Court that business owners and all persons deemed to be responsible
for Fire Safety regulations will be held accountable in law and
brought before the courts for the disregard of fire-related safety
matters and breaches of the legislation”.
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