Estate agent fined as buyer slips down well
A HOUSEHUNTER fell 30ft down a well and clung to a hosepipe for an hour after an estate agent failed to tell her about its presence in the garden, a court heard.
The estate agent, Strakers, has been fined £200,000 over the incident that occurred when Lucy Driver and her husband, James, had gone to an open house viewing on April 23 last year.
The couple had been encouraged by the agent at the house to have “a good look around”, Swindon magistrates’ court heard. The agent remained inside the house while the Drivers walked to the bottom of the garden in Malmesbury, Wilts.
Mrs Driver took a step off the garden path on to a piece of board which collapsed and she fell down the well. Strakers (Holdings) Ltd admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act by failing to discharge a general health and safety duty.
Mrs Driver was sub- merged in water at the bottom of the well but was able to keep her head above water with the help of a hosepipe fed down to her by neighbours. It was more than an hour before she was rescued by the fire service.
A Health and Safety Executive inquiry concluded that Strakers had failed to assess the risks and that no health and safety management system had been in place.
Matt Tyler, an HSE inspector, told Judge Simon Cooper that three days before the open house event Strakers had been informed by an earlier prospective buyer of the existence of the well under the piece of board.
He added that the house was part of the estate of a woman who had died and there was therefore no one who knew the property well to ask about possible risks.
Mr Tyler said that when Strakers was told about the well, one of its employees, Tim Peters, visited the house, looked at the wooden board and assumed that the well underneath would be covered by a metal grille.
Andrew McLaughlin, for Strakers, told the judge the company was sorry for the incident and accepted that Mr Peters’ inspection should have been more thorough.