Record Fine for Rail Crash

Great Western Trains Company Limited (GWT) was fined £1.5 million following the railway accident at Southall, West London in September 1997. This is the highest health and safety fine against an individual company: the previous record was the £1.2 million imposed on Balfour Beatty earlier this year following the Heathrow Express rail link collapse.

The sentence was imposed by Mr Justice Scott-Baker, who last month ruled that the charges against GWT for manslaughter had to be dropped since the company could not be prosecuted for gross negligence without naming an individual. One of the aggravating factors which affected the sentence was that no-one from the senior management of the company attended the Court hearing to express the company's remorse following the death of 7 passengers. The Howe guidelines indicated that the court should take into account the response of the company to the accident when determining the level of fine. It seems that this now includes saying sorry, as well as spending money to improve future safety standards.
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