Earlier this year, the hotel was said to be facing a ‘huge fine’ over an evacuation in August 2018, enforced by Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service (BFRS). Milcardar Ltd is an international hotel chain which owns The CampaNile hotel, which saw guests ‘evacuated in the middle of the night’ on 7 August 2018 after a regular guest noticed all smoke detectors were covered in red plastic.
On calling BFRS, it forcibly evacuated the fully occupied 80 room hotel, which was closed for ‘urgent repairs to the alarm system’. When firefighters arrived, staff ‘claimed to be unaware of any problems with the fire alarms’, and a further investigation discovered that after the fire detection and alarm system was ‘condemned’, there had been ‘no working’ smoke detectors for six weeks from 26 June to 7 August that year, with these having been ‘deliberately disabled’.
Prosecutor Edmund Gritt stated: ‘It would have been necessary to replace the alarm immediately and most likely, given the state of the old system, close the hotel until that work was done. Instead, the danger drifted on. An investigation audit of the premises established a history of failures. It identified the alarm system at the premises had a history of frequent malfunctions.
‘On the evidence, we would say there is a lackadaisical culture affecting the management of fire safety issues and something of a systemic failure.’
The company is a mutual organisation with the world’s fifth largest hotel group, Louvre Hotel Group, with Judge Francis Sheridan commenting in February: ‘It is quite a fall from grace. I do not think it was financially motivated, I think the hotel was just appallingly run. It appears to me that is what this case is about. After the disaster in London, I should hope every hotel would have reviewed their fire safety procedures.’
Defending company director Mark Aldridge and the company itself, Adrian Darbishire commented: ‘There are quite a lot of lessons to be learned for the company I represent and indeed for the individuals. There has been a programme of rolling out of the guides to the fire alarm systems across not just the CampaNile but other Louvre hotels in the UK.
‘There was a lack of training for the manager who worked under Mr Aldridge, but also Mr Aldridge himself had not had appropriate training. Mr Aldridge, whilst he failed in some of his responsibilities, was placed in quite a difficult position. He was not well supported.’
In turn, Mr Darbishire noted that American testing company NSF International had been contracted to test the fire safety systems, and had created a policy to carry out fire risk assessments and ‘prescribe staff training’ for the hotel. He commented that the company ‘had not carried out its duties properly’, with Judge Sheridan agreeing and pointing out that the contractors that the hotel was ‘relying on, let them down totally’.
At Aylesbury Crown Court, Mr Aldridge admitted three counts of failing to comply with health and safety regulations, while Milcardar Ltd admitted six counts of the same charge, with sentencing due soon. The hotel had lost about £30,000 in revenue once it closed to repair the fire alarm system. Judge Sheridan indicated Mr Aldridge ‘would not receive a jail term but a fine’, though this ‘leniency’ would ‘likely lead to a harsher penalty’ for the company, which could face a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing – not yet decided and causing the delay in sentencing in the case.
MiltonKeynes.co.uk has now reported that Mildarcar Ltd was fined £220,850 for ‘putting staff and guests […] at serious risk of fire’, with the sentencing conducted remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was ordered to pay full costs of £33,828 to BFRS, whose officers were ‘thanked and commended’ by Judge Sheridan for their ‘prompt response and attention to the initial fire safety complaint’.
The judge added that there were both ‘corporate and management failings’ that ‘fell far short of appropriate industry standards’, though the level of fines were ‘dramatically reduced’ due to the pandemic’s impact on Milcardar’s ‘ability to trade’.
BFRS area commander and head of service delivery Dave Norris commented: ‘The safety of the public is our primary concern, and it is not unreasonable for any hotel guest to expect the basic standards of protection from fire. Where fire safety is not treated seriously by companies, or when company directors neglect their responsibilities, we will take the appropriate course of action which in the most serious cases may result in prosecution.’