Unsafe pier owner put thousands at risk

Prosecutions and Claims |
17.12.2007

A judge at Hove Crown Court has fined the owner and managing agent of Hastings Pier £80,000 after both firms were found guilty of failing to maintain the crumbling structure safely and of ignoring a council Improvement Notice.

Panama-based Ravenclaw Investments, which owns the pier, and its management company Boss Management (UK) denied breaching safety laws and failed to turn up to court hearings.

Hastings Borough Council started investigating the state of the 135-year-old pier in late 2005 after a survey commissioned by a possible purchaser found structural problems. Members of the public had also alerted the council to parts of the supporting ironwork falling onto the beach. The 277m-long pier hosted regular club nights and rock concerts in its ballroom.

Council officers repeatedly met pier representatives and requested details of maintenance programmes. "We wrote with very detailed requests for information as to how they were maintaining the pier," principal environmental health officer Ian Wheeler told HSW. But officers failed to receive any substantive replies.

When the council consulted the National Pier Society, which specialises in pier preservation, it agreed that what officers had asked for was reasonable,  and was what any reasonable pier owner would be doing to ensure the safety and integrity of the asset. "You've got to have ongoing planned and managed maintenance," said Wheeler. "There are lots of people out there with the necessary knowledge."

Both firms ignored the Improvement Notices Wheeler served in May 2006 requiring a full structural assessment. Finally, in June 2006, the council used its emergency powers under the Building Act to close part of the pier amid concerns that it might not withstand the weight of up to 2000 people due to attend several planned music events. Magistrates upheld the decision to prohibit public access to parts of the structure, granting a formal court order in September 2006.

The companies denied breaching Section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work Act for not complying with an Improvement Notice and Section 4 of the Act for failing to ensure premises were safe.

On 1 November, following unanimous guilty verdicts on all four charges, Judge Cedric Joseph said the companies had failed "completely and lamentably to meet their responsibilities". He fined them £20,000 for each of their offences, plus equal shares of the council's £8,156 costs. The council has since published a structural report which estimates it will cost £7.3 million to ensure the Victorian pier does not collapse.