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THE operators of a cable car system at Aonach Mor, and one of its employees, have been fined after admitting breaches of health and safety legislation which led to an accident in 2006 in which four people were seriously injured.
Caitlin Harris, aged three, from County Derry suffered a broken leg when one of the cable cars, or gondolas, slipped down the cable, collided with another car and fell 25ft to the ground.
Also seriously injured were Caitlin’s father Craig Harris, who had a fractured cheekbone and back injuries, Theresa Murphy, who suffered serious leg injuries and Dutch businessman Jelle Koen, aged 52, who had chest injuries.
At Fort William Sheriff Court this week Nevis Range, which operates the cable car system on the 4,006ft mountain near Fort William, admitted breaching health and safety at work legislation in that it failed to ensure a safe operating system was in place to protect passengers on the system, the only one of its kind in the United Kingdom, on July 13 2006.
Employee Kevin Byrne, aged 59, of Inverlochy Place, Fort William, admitted failing to take reasonable care and failing to follow safe operating procedures.
Procurator Fiscal Alison Wyllie told the court that at around 3.15pm two different families had boarded cable cars at the top station on the mountain.
‘As car 66 left the station it appeared to be swaying a bit and an automatic emergency stop of the system took place.
‘Kevin Byrne went onto an overhead gantry and identified that a fork was broken inside the grip on the gondola. The gondola was not clamped on to the cable correctly. Kevin Byrne replaced the fork then went to the control panel and pressed the reset button indicating to the operator at the bottom station that the system could run again. The system could only be reactivated from the bottom station.’
However as the system had not been run in reverse, which would have reset the grip mechanism, the cable car then slipped along the cable when the system was reactivated, causing the accident.
‘Because the top station did not ask for the system to be reversed, the system was not reversed,’ continued Ms Wyllie.
‘There was no communication procedure put in place. It is the Crown’s position that if there was such a procedure, and if it was followed, then the bottom station would have known what the actual fault was. Kevin Byrne knew the procedure but didn’t follow it.’
Defence agent for Nevis Range Tristan Russell said: ‘The company recognised that the accident should never have happened and would like to express their sympathy and regret to the families involved. They have tried to do the right thing. They admitted liability quickly and have improved procedures to ensure things are as safe as possible.’
Byrne, who was described in court as an experienced cable car operator, was an electrician with Nevis Range between 1989 and 1990 and again between 1993 and 1996. He was then promoted to engineering manager in 1996, a post he was in until October 1995 when he applied for a lower position as gondola operator.
Byrne’s defence agent Barry Smith QC said: ‘He accepts absolutely that he made a terrible mistake and that mistake had very serious consequences. It has preyed on his mind for nearly two years and has affected him deeply.
‘This is not the case of a man being aware of procedure and deliberately failing to follow it. It is a case of failing to follow procedure for reasons which he cannot, either then or now, adequately explain.’
Nevis Range was fined £2,000 while Byrne was fined £1,000.
