Discount retail chain Poundland has been ordered to pay £16,505 in penalties after a pensioner fractured her wrist when she tripped over damaged tiles at its Middlesbrough store.
The 65-year-old was about to leave the shop when she tripped on an uneven area of broken tiles and fell, breaking and dislocating her wrist.
A Middlesbrough Council investigation found that the company had failed to maintain the shop properly. "They had been aware of the damaged and missing tiles for a period of 10 months prior to the accident", said Middlesbrough Council’s principal environmental health officer Philip Slack.
At Teeside Magistrates’ Court, Poundland admitted two breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act, and was fined £14,000 with £2505 costs.
A Poundland spokesperson said this is the first time the company has been prosecuted for health and safety offences in 20 years of trading and, as a result of the accident, the chain has reviewed all of its health and safety procedures.