Contractor rapped after cinema collapses onto carriageway

A Liverpool contractor has been fined after a former cinema collapsed onto a dual carriageway during rush hour.

Gaskells Demolition Services was contracted to demolish the 1000-seat Orion building in Thornton Cleveleys to make way for a supermarket.

Safety inspectors said it was pure luck that no-one was seriously injured after the building partially collapsed on to the A587 in June last year.

Gaskells was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay costs of £3,000 after admitting breaching health and safety regulations.

A Health and Safety Executive investigation found Gaskells had failed to take sufficient precautions and had not applied to the council for temporary road closures while the work took place.

HSE inspector Anthony Polec said: “The risk of buildings unexpectedly collapsing is well known in the demolition industry but Gaskells failed to take adequate action to prevent lives being put in danger.

“It’s only luck that no one was seriously injured.”