Parkwood Community Leisure Ltd has to pay £100,000 after death of Portsmouth taxi driver Albert Xhediku electrocuted at Mountbatten Centre
A leisure centre management firm has been fined after a taxi driver was electrocuted by a faulty floodlight
A company has been fined £60,000 after a Portsmouth cab driver was electrocuted by a faulty floodlight while retrieving a ball at a leisure centre.
Albert Xhediku, who was a cab driver for City Wide Taxis, was playing five-a-side football with some friends at the Mountbatten Centre in Portsmouth on January 17, 2016. After the ball was kicked out of their pitch he climbed a fence to get it, but suffered a fatal electric shock when he touched a floodlight column.
His friends tried to resuscitate him, but he could not be saved and was declared dead a day later in hospital.
An inquest into his death held in 2019 heard evidence from police officer Simon Tam, who had been given an electric shock in similar circumstances. A month earlier, on December 1, 2015, during a game with Hampshire Constabulary colleagues, he went to get a ball off a roof and said that the “extremely painful” episode caused his “whole body to tense up”.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the incident was caused by worn and faulty wiring on the floodlight which Parkwood Community Leisure had failed to properly inspect and maintain - and that no action had been taken despite the incident being reported by the police teams the month before.
It was also found that this failing had been present for several years and that no steps had been taken to repair the equipment. HSE says that electrical equipment should be maintained so as to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, danger to any persons likely to come into contact with the equipment.
Parkwood Community Leisure Ltd of The Stables, Duxbury Park, Duxbury Hall Road, Chorley, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 at a previous hearing. At Portsmouth Magistrates’ court on Tuesday the company was fined £60,000 and ordered to pay costs of £40,000.
HSE inspector Dominic Goacher said: “This tragic incident should never have happened. What followed was a long and complex investigation. We found that the electrical system of the floodlight that resulted in Albert’s death had already been identified by Parkwood as being in poor condition, yet they failed to take action to remedy the faults.
“This case is a stark reminder that effective systems must be put in place to properly assess and manage the risks posed by ageing infrastructure on their sites. As always, our thoughts remain with Albert’s family and friends and we hope the conclusion of this case can offer them some comfort.”
Parkwood Leisure stopped operating the Mountbatten Centre in Portsmouth at the end of January 2017, when the management transferred to BH Live, which still runs the Mountbatten and other centres in Portsmouth.
In a statement it said: “Everyone at PCL Ltd expresses our deepest and most sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of Mr Albert Xhediku. We acknowledge that no legal outcome or financial penalty can lessen the profound loss experienced by the family and our thoughts remain entirely with them.
“While today brings the legal proceedings to a close, it does not diminish our unwavering commitment to the safety of everyone who walks through our doors and we are committed to ensuring an incident of this kind never happens again.”