Transco Charged over Gas Blast Deaths

The gas supply company Transco has been charged with culpable homicide following a December 1999 explosion in Larkhall, South Lanarkshire that killed four members of one family. It is the first time in Scotland that a company has been accused of culpable homicide. The indictment follows a lengthy investigation by the Lanarkshire Area Procurator Fiscal, assisted by a specialist team of police officers from Strathclyde Police. In a statement Transco said it intends to contest the charges.

The case has been indicted for trial in the High Court Edinburgh on 7 March 2003 on a charge of culpable homicide, with a contravention of Sections 3 and 33 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 as an alternative. Ian Tasker, health and safety officer for the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC), said: 'The STUC have welcomed the announcement that charges have been laid and a court date set for the trial to commence. We would see the decision to proceed as a test of Scots Common Law to deal with allegations of corporate killing and consider how this transfers to cases involving fatalities to workers.'
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