This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Transco to be prosecuted
28/02/2002
Transco, the company responsible for the gas
distribution network, is to be prosecuted following the
deaths of a family of four in a gas explosion in Larkhall
in December 1999, the Crown Office announced today.
Andrew and Janette Findlay and their children Stacey
(13) and Daryl (11) died in an explosion at their home at
42 Carlisle Road in the Lanarkshire town.
The results of investigations by the Hamilton Procurator
Fiscal, and reports by the Health and Safety Executive and
the police have been considered by Crown Counsel who have
today instructed that proceedings for culpable homicide
should be taken against the company.
Proceedings will be taken in the High Court on a charge
of culpable homicide with a contravention of Section 3 and
33 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 as an
alternative. The Act states it is an offence to fail to
discharge a duty not to expose persons to risk to their
health or safety.
No date or location has been fixed for trial. A
considerable amount of preparatory work has still to be
undertaken. This decision has been intimated to relatives
of the deceased and to other interested parties.
In September 2000, the Health and Safety Executive
submitted their report on the Larkhall gas explosion to the
Procurator Fiscal at Hamilton. Following receipt of that
report, and an earlier report submitted by Strathclyde
Police, the Procurator Fiscal's office carried out its own
investigations and interviewed a number of key witnesses.
In February 2001, the Procurator Fiscal instructed
Strathclyde Police to carry out further enquiries into the
circumstances leading up to the explosion.
A team of police officers drawn from the Fraud and
Serious Crime Squads of Strathclyde Police undertook this
investigation. A large number of witnesses from across the
country were interviewed and numerous documents recovered.
The results of these investigations were reported to the
Procurator Fiscal in July 2001. The reports were the
subject of detailed consideration by the Procurator
Fiscal's office, including a large amount of legal
investigation and research undertaken by the office.
Detailed reports were submitted by the Procurator Fiscal
to Crown Office in August and September 2001. The reports
were considered by Crown Counsel who instructed further
investigation into specific areas. The final report allowed
Crown Counsel to reach their decision.
Throughout the investigation staff of the Procurator
Fiscal's office in Hamilton has ensured that the next of
kin and other interested parties were kept up to date with
developments.
The maximum penalty for both culpable homicide and a
contravention of Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work
Act 1974 is an unlimited fine.