AN 82-year-old landlord has been fined £5,000 for supplying a faulty electric radiator which led to the death of a 33-year-old mother in a tragic accident.
thisiscornwall.co.uk – 13 August 2009
Trading standards officers from Cornwall Council brought the case against Hilary Thompson from Portscatho, on the Roseland peninsula, following the electrocution of Thirza Whittall last year.
Mrs Whittall died just days after she had moved to the village with her husband and two young children.
During a trial at Camborne Magistrates Court on Thursday (August 6), magistrates were told that Mrs Thompson inherited Pettigrew Cottage in the 1980s and had let it as holiday accommodation until 2007.
She then decided to let it on a shorthold tenancy, which Mr and Mrs Whittall took over on March 9, last year.
Prosecuting, Emma Northey, from the trading standards department, said: “It was supplied furnished, so the electrical appliances should have been safe.”
There was no central heating and an electric, oil-filled radiator was used in the bathroom, which was plugged into a socket in the kitchen.
The court heard an engineer who later inspected the radiator found it was more than 30 years old, had a castor missing, and was fitted with a 13 amp rather than the appropriate three amp fuse.
The flex was damaged and the cover had failed where it entered the appliance, so that when the flex was pulled taut, live wires made contact with a metal pin inside the thermostat. This created a fault current which went back into the electrical system and the water pipes bonded to it, making the home’s water pipes and bath taps live.
Mrs Northey said: “The faults on the heater were not enough in themselves to cause serious injury, but there were other faults with the house itself, namely a lack of earth bonding on the water pipes.
“As a result, when Mrs Whittall got into the bath and touched the taps she completed the circuit and was electrocuted.
“The electrical equipment played a part in the circumstances of Mrs Whittall’s death, but was not the sole cause.”
In Mrs Thompson’s defence, Harry Vann told magistrates: “This tragic incident lives with all those who have had any connection with it.”
He said she had asked electrician Bruce Brockhurst to check the house’s electrical system before the Whittalls moved in, but he had been too busy.
“Had the electrician done so, Mrs Whittall might not have been electrocuted,” said Mr Vann.
Me and my family are living in rented accommodation were the electrics are dangerous and a report has been compiled to say that the house needs a full rewire. We had live wires hanging above bath and to isolate them the electrician needed to remove a fuse leaving us with no hot water, this was five weeks ago and we are just going round in circles with environmental health and the landlord, whilst my three children are at risk living in this house. It is just typical that someone has to die before anything gets done to the landlords, it’s all very political.
Comment by Mrs Frost — 28/8/2009 #
A tragic accident that could have been avoided. I am an electrical tester and PAT tester I spend my life trying to get letting agents to attaché some importance to portable appliance testing and fixed appliance testing and all I am is yet another nuisance call. I surf the private letting ads in my local papers and ring the landlords direct trying to point out the importance of these test usually to no avail. I ring the holiday cottage industry to no avail. It is quite ironic that I also own a number of properties and let them. Last week I had to have the old CORGI certificates renewed on 3 of these properties and when the certification came through it is a NICEIC certificate if nothing else surly this tragic event should prove to this organisation that they should be getting its own house in order before taking on the gas industry. Oh and by the way what are my costs between £30-00 and £50-00 depending on the number of articles to test not very much money to save a life!!
Comment by Martin Fitzgerald — 31/8/2009 #
Due to lack of testing procedures, faulty radiator kills. Safety begins at testing process in all electronic devices to avoid electrical shock.
Comment by Electrical Power Tester — 29/9/2009 #