Businessman fined £48,000 due to office block fire safety breaches

Tarlochan Singh, aged 48, from Cryfield Grange Road in Coventry, served as the director of 5th Capital Limited, the owner of Ridgemount House on Bede Way in Peterlee, when concerns were raised with County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service that people were sleeping inside the “derelict” building.

Fire safety officers made a late-night visit to the premises and discovered nine men sleeping on the third floor. They also found several other serious fire safety breaches, which placed one or more people at risk of death or serious injury in the event of a fire.

These breaches included a failure to make a fire risk assessment, a failure to ensure the premises had appropriate fire detectors and alarms, a failure to ensure that emergency exits were kept clear, a failure to provide adequate emergency lighting and a lack of sufficient fire doors.

Durham Crown Court heard that, in the wake of these serious breaches, County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service contacted Singh and learned that the nine people found in the building had been working on another building (also owned by Singh) in the Peterlee area.

Guilty pleas entered

Singh pleaded guilty to a total of eight charges, all of them relating to breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

Prosecutor Rosalind Scott Bell explained: “Singh knew the state of the building and knew the workers were being housed in it. He must have seen the risk, but he chose to take that risk.”

Sentencing Singh on 24 February, Judge Joanne Kidd ordered him to pay a £48,000 fine within 12 months or otherwise face being jailed. He must also pay £45,711.48 in costs.

Addressing Singh, Judge Kidd stated: “These premises were fundamentally derelict and nobody could have thought they were suitable for anyone to spend any period of time in them. It would have been obvious to you and to anyone that they were in a state of dilapidation. If there had been a fire inside the building, these nine men would have been very much at risk of not being able to exit the building.”

Serious breaches

Director Ben Cairns from County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service has welcomed the outcome of this case.

“In 2022, we were informed by the Health and Safety Executive of concerns that people were sleeping at Ridgemont House,” said Cairns. “Our primary aim is to keep the people of County Durham and Darlington safe from fire. Our specialist fire safety officers attended the premises. The breaches of fire safety legislation they discovered were so serious that there was an immediate risk posed to life. As such, the inspecting officers immediately prohibited the use of the building.”

Cairns continued: “In this case, there was a serious disregard for fire safety and the risk to life was so serious that it was in the public interest to pursue prosecution. While it has taken an extended period of time to reach this point, I welcome the outcome of the legal process as this demonstrates our commitment to keeping the people of Durham and Darlington safe.”

County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service urges all property managers and landlords to ensure compliance with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 at all times and to act promptly on risk assessments and Enforcement Notices.