No ‘concern’ before huge blast

Trial hears manager found nothing that needed further investigation

The trial of a plumber accused of causing an early morning gas explosion that ripped through an elderly couple’s retirement bungalow heard yesterday that a senior manager from his firm had spotted “nothing untoward” about the pipework feeding the property’s existing boiler before a new one was fitted.

Alistair MacDonald, then plumbing manager at Stirling-based TRS Plumbing and Heating Services, said he carried out a visual inspection of the pipework before giving Marion and Robin Cunningham, then aged 74 and 77, a quote for replacing a faulty boiler at their home in Callander, Perthshire.

He told prosecutor Shona McJannett: “Nothing gave me concern in inspecting the pipework before installation.”

He said he found nothing that in his opinion warranted any further investigation before plumber Craig Hall began putting in the new boiler.

Mr MacDonald, 50, added that Hall had completed his re-registration and safety training as a gas engineer just six months before carrying out the work.

Hall, 35, is accused of failing to ensure that a gas supply pipe was properly supported when he fitted the new boiler at Mr and Mrs Cunningham’s home on Murdiston Avenue, Callander, on August 2 2012.

As a consequence, it is alleged, the supply pipe to the equipment separated from an inlet pipe, allowing gas to escape and on March 28 the next year to ignite, resulting in an explosion that caused extensive damage to the Cunninghams’ two-bedroomed home and injuries to them both.

Hall, of Palisker, Tullibody, Clackmannanshire, denies causing the blast by carrying out the installation of the boiler dangerously and otherwise than in accordance with appropriate standards, contrary to the Gas Safety (Installations and Use) Regulations 1988.

He also denies a charge, under the Health and Safety at Work Act, of failing to take reasonable care for Mr and Mrs Cunningham’s safety.

The trial, before Gilchrist, continues. Sheriff William

The Cunninghams’ retirement bungalow was extensively damaged by the explosion in March 2013.