£50,000 fine for ‘Death Trap’ store

Poundstretcher Ltd has pleaded guilty to serious fire safety breaches at its Huddersfield store.

A fire safety inspector found that the store was putting its staff and customers at serious risk of injury or death due to a catalogue of safety failings at the store.

Inspectors discovered that only one fire exit was in use, but was not working properly and could actually have trapped them inside the building rather than helping them escape. Other exits that were not in use were blocked by large amounts of combustible material.

Before the failings were discovered, a risk assessment had been carried out and recommendations had been made but were not actioned at the store.

The Company has been fined £50,000 for the breaches.  In the past 18 months it has also had to pay out over £20,000 for failings at other stores in Wakefield and Halifax.

The Company accepted responsibility and immediately set about rectifying all of the issues. Poundstretcher company secretary, Martin Collinson said, “We note the comments of the judge and we have to take what he said very seriously”.