Mick George has power lines fine reduced on appeal

Mick George has had a £566,670 fine for breaching health and safety regulations reduced after the appeal court found the sanction manifestly excessive.

The company had pleaded guilty to a breach of regulation 25(3) of Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 after a tipper vehicle driven by one of its employees struck an overhead power line (OPL).

The driver was emptying a load of soil from his vehicle at a site in Northampton in 2016 when he pulled forward with the body raised and it touched, or came close to touching, the 33kV OPL.

The tipper vehicle suffered minor damage but the driver was unhurt.

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An HSE investigation concluded that Mick George should have assessed the risks from OPLs more rigorously and realised its system of work was inadequate to reduce the risk of tipper vehicles striking one.

However, an appeal court hearing agreed with the appellant that the judge should have decided that it was a harm Category 3 case, not harm Category 2 case, and that the starting point was manifestly excessive.

An appeal court spokesman confirmed that as a result, the original penalty had been substituted with a fine of £334,000 to be paid within 12 months.

The company declined to comment.