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A Liverpool landlord has been fined £40k plus costs at Liverpool Crown Court following a catastrophic fire at his rental property in the city, after he admitted failing to install a working fire alarm.
The fire broke out in the early hours of the morning in January last year. Those tenants who were awake at the time alerted neighbours and tried to escape.
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One man had to be rescued from a window.
A Lack of Basic Fire Safety
The fire crew who attended found that escape routes were almost impassable because of a basic lack of fire safety precautions. There had been no fire safety doors fitted, no smoke alarms, and no emergency exits with emergency lighting, so it was very difficult to get out of the building once the escape routes become smoke-logged.
“Mr Gregson failed to provide even the most basic fire safety measures, including a working fire alarm and self-closing devices on flat doors,” said the fire safety officer.
“It was a matter of blessing and chance that nobody was gravely injured or even killed.”
As it was, the flat above a Chinese restaurant was utterly destroyed by fire and the tenants lost everything in the blaze.
Landlord Suffers from Nightmares
The landlord admitted in court that he continued to have nightmares about what might have happened, but he said his offence was negligence rather than a cost-saving exercise. He has since spent around £9k to bring his other rental properties back up to scratch.
