Wetherspoons fined £27K over health and safety

By Graham Ridout

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Law

Wetherspoon: hit with fine
Wetherspoon: hit with fine
A student who was severely scalded while working for Wetherspoons is pursuing legal action for compensation against the managed pub chain.

Wetherspoons was fined £27,000 for breaches of health and safety rules in Exeter Magistrates' Court.

Joe Sellman-Leava suffered "excruciating" pain while cleaning grill plates in a decarbonisation machine at the Chevalier Inn in Exeter. Sellman-Leava had only started working a few days earlier and the court was told that he had received no training in the use of the equipment; neither was he wearing any protection clothing except for a pair of gloves.

Wetherspoons' solicitor Saba Naqshbandi said in mitigation: "This isn't a company where there are no systems in place or which does not recognise or understand the need for individuals to be trained properly. But, unfortunately, it appears that requirement was not followed at the local level."

Naqshbandi said that following the incident; Wetherspoons had improved its risk assessment and training requirements. However, the magistrates ruled that Wetherspoons' actions were negligent and fined the company £27,000 and ordered costs of £6,300.

Related topics Health & safety

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