Jimmy Coyle of North Lanarkshire was sitting relaxing at his home in Holytown when the attack took place last Monday night.

A banger pushed through his letterbox exploded, blowing the box right out and sending the flap of the box hurtling into his living room where it hit Councillor Coyle in the face.

Mr Coyle suffered a cut to his head and severe bruising – and admitted he was fortunate his injuries were not much worse.

He said: “I was sitting in the house and felt something hit me on the side of the face and then heard a boom. I actually thought my fire had blown up.

“I put my hand up to my face and it was covered in blood and then saw the flap from the letter box was lying in the room. The firework had blown the letter box right out and the flap had come flying through the living room and hit me in the face.

“I was very lucky. What has saved my eye has been the leg of my glasses. They were badly bent and but for them it would have gone right into my eye.”

Shell International Ltd was fined £300,000 and order to pay £45,000 costs after pleading guilty to serious breaches of the RRO.  The London Fire Brigade prosecuted Shell following two small fires in the space of three weeks in January 2007 at the Shell Centre on York Road.  An inspection was then carried out which found escape routes and fire exits blocked, defective fire doors and excessive fire loading.  The fire loading had increased because of refurbishments taking place in the upper floors.  It was also discovered that Shell’s own fire risk assessment had not been reviewed or updated since March 2003. 

Southall, Middlesex

A property management company has been ordered to pay over £25,000 in fines and costs after pleading guilty to serious breaches of fire safety legislation.  The prosecution followed a fire on 14 November 2007 at a house which had been converted into flats.  The fire started under the stairs due to an overload of the electrical systems.  Inspecting officers visiting the premises the next day found several fire safety failings including no means of detecting fire in the building and fire doors that were not properly maintained.

Erith, London

A church organisation was ordered to pay £30,000 in fines and costs after pleading guilty to three contraventions of the Fire Safety Order at Woolwich Crown Court.  One fire exit was blocked by a steel bar and another adjoining was changed and locked.  Steve Turek, Assistant Commissioner commented, “These offences presented a real risk of injury to the congregation who are our main concern.  Church Groups and other which organise large gatherings need to make sure their premises are fit for purpose and that they take their responsibility very seriously to ensure the safety of visitors.”

Widnes, Cheshire

The first prosecution brought by Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service was against a recycling company and a fine of £20,000 plus costs of £10,000 were awarded by Runcorn Magistrates Court.  The prosecution followed a complaint which referred to fire safety issues and a visit to the premises revealed a large number of serious fire safety contraventions.  These included an external staircase being obstructed with gas cylinders; fire exit doors obstructed or which could not be opened; exit routes that had no lighting or signs were obstructed.

Mansfield, Nottinghamshire

A businessman was sentenced to six months in prison suspended for two years and ordered 100 hours of community service following breaches of fire safety legislation at his premises.  He was also fined a total of £24,000 and had to pay £9,000 costs.  Officers had inspected the three storey building and made recommendations which needed completion before the building could be used as an indoor car boot market.

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service has become the first in the country to stop sending fire engines to investigate automatic fire alarms (AFA).

Instead, a safety officer will be sent to investigate AFAs in a bid to cut down on the number of unwanted fire signals, which can significantly drain resources, as well as wasting businesses’ time.

If there is a fire, then a crew will be sent to deal with it, but it is hoped that the trial will help in reducing false alarms, as the fire service currently has to deal with approximately 3,500 across the county each year.

The fire rescue service is trying out the new system in areas of Portsmouth. However, it has reassured residents that fire engines will still be sent to schools, hospitals, hotels and care homes in the event of an AFA.

A spokesperson for Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “We will still send someone to check what the cause of the alarm is but this won’t be in a fire engine and we won’t class it as an emergency.”

According to Suffolk County Council, businesses can reduce the risk of unwanted fire signals by ensuring that all staff are aware of where fire detection and alarm systems are placed.

This will help to ensure they do not undertake any work in the area involving heat, smoke, flames or sparks without proper clearance.

Karen Sykes, who operated the Altrincham-based Oldfield Bank Residential Care Home, was been ordered to pay £500 and a victim surcharge of £15 on March 18th in Manchester Crown Court.

According to The Messenger newspaper, the charges were brought against Ms Sykes after a fire at the establishment in May 2010 caused the death of one elderly resident.

The manager was charged under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

Earlier this month, the fire alarm engineer for the establishment – retained firefighter Christopher Morris – was found guilty of fire safety breeches and ordered to pay £11,000 in a fine and costs.

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 also states that a fire risk assessment must be carried out on all commercial properties and houses of multiple occupancy in England and Wales.

If the fire risk assessment is carried out insufficiently, the Responsible Person faces a fine or up to two years in prison.

30% of all businesses that have a major fire go out of business within a year. 70% fail within five years.

If you run a business, even a small one from home, UK law requires you must keep critical documents, including invoices and receipts, in a safe place. Most for 6 years, some for 40 years!

Many people, however, when asked for documents will happily just point to a shelf, take you to their garage or simply ruffle through a cabinet to get you the information you need. Put simply, they’re not stored anywhere safe and could be lost or stolen very easily.

Company documents are important and storing them safely is a legal requirement, not just a good idea. You should, the, consider putting them somewhere safe so that they cannot be simply picked up and taken out of the building, lost when someone decides to tidy up and burned to a crisp in a freak accident.  

Maybe you will be lucky and won’t become a victim of disastrous circumstances, but if disaster does strike, will you be prepared to put your entire business at risk?

Should you require more information, I’d like to introduce you to our neighbours and friends: Mango Logistics.  http://www.mangologisticsgroup.co.uk/

We achieved a Net Promoter Score (NPS*) of 77%, a result we are very proud of (APPLE scored 78%). However we are not complacent and be assured we will always be looking at ways to improve.

We are very proud of our Griffin Fire values (Professional – Friendly – Open – Reliable – Trustworthy) and building these in to all aspects of our company. Feel free to let us know if we are not living up to them and we will act immediately. Other feedback changes are: Fire Training Centre undergoing a facelift and a commitment to turning round our fire risk assessments within 5 working days, if not you will receive it free of charge. We look forward to continued success with you all.

Thank you once again for your valued feedback.

*NPS is the percentage of our promoters (rating of 9 or 10) less our detractors (rating of 1-6). NPS is based upon findings from academic research and is used worldwide as a measure of customer satisfaction and loyalty.

The Poundstretcher branch in Castleford’s Carlton Street was penalised £51,500 for seven breaches of the Fire Safety Order 2005, and was also ordered to pay costs of £3,499.

According to Judge Reid, Poundstretcher had not made the premises safe despite having been reprimanded for similar offences at its Halifax and Wakefield stores.

Although the judge noted that the chain had not made a profit since 2005, he said this should not be used as a reason for failure to meet fire safety regulations.

“Poundstretcher had not put their house in order by October 7th, 2009, when, as a result of a chance passing by a fire safety officer, it was observed that the Castleford store was failing in its duties,” Judge Reid quoted as saying.

Exits were found to be obstructed, the fire risk assessment had not been regularly reviewed, staff had not received sufficient training and just one of the six fire exits was in working order.

Poundstretcher is headquartered in Huddersfield and has more than 300 outlets throughout the UK.

“This is a sensible move,” said London’s fire authority Chairman Brian Coleman: “These strikes have always been unjustified, unnecessary and utterly avoidable.” London Fire Commissioner Ron Dobson said: “My intention has always been to reach an agreement on proposals that will make Londoners safer and firefighters safer. Going to an independently-chaired body to help us seek a way forward is a step in the right direction.”

The meeting of the Resolution Advisory Panel is taking place on 16 November. If an agreement is reached, the Section 188 process of re-engaging firefighters on new terms and conditions will be withdrawn.

The London Fire Brigade are advising all businesses to ensure that:

• The fire risk assessment for the premises is up to date and has been acted on.
• Measures to reduce the risk of fire are in place and are working.
• Fire precautions in the building are working.
• The premises’ emergency plan is up to date and appropriate to ensure evacuation in case of fire without the need for brigade assistance.
• All staff knows what to do in case of fire.

In addition, they strongly recommend:

• Delaying certain activities if they have an increased risk of fire associated with them.
• Rescheduling deliveries of flammable substances to coincide with periods when full emergency response cover is available.
• Lowering inventories of substances/items that are flammable or toxic.

Roula and Dougie Spanos of Birkbeck Road said the efforts of the fire fighters employed by the private company were “appalling and ludicrous.” This was a cover arranged by the LFB bosses to cover an eight hour strike by the regular fire fighters in a dispute over shift patterns.

The Spanos’ house caught fire just before 5pm and the couple had to call six times and wait 20 minutes before a fire engine arrived at the scene which had escalated the smoke to rising flames. A second engine arrived shortly afterwards, but did not even have the breathing apparatus that would have enabled them to fight the fire from inside. Instead they had to fight from outside and had to squirt water on the blaze from outside while the family were forced watch in horror their roof collapsing.

Mrs. Spanos  said She wanted the public to know the truth about the arranged emergency cover being provided and said the fire fighters.