£19,000 fine over faulty boiler
25/03/2010
Two landlords and a gas engineer have been fined a total of £19,000 after a mother and daughter became severely ill because of carbon monoxide from a sub-standard boiler.
Southampton Magistrates' Court heard that Motoko Riley and her six-year-old daughter Emily had drifted in and out of consciousness and began to vomit after the poisonous gas escaped from the piece of equipment.
Brothers Robert and David Watts, the landlords of the property, had been told on numerous occasions over a period of four years that the boiler needed to be serviced or replaced - yet they did nothing.
David MacDonald of Hythe, Southampton, the property's gas service engineer, declared the boiler safe to use three times when it was not.
The men, each of whom pleaded guilty to breaches of health and safety legislation, were fined a combined total of £19,000.
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