BBC News | The organiser of a motorsport event has been fined more than £60,000 after attendees fell ill and had to be evacuated due to carbon monoxide poisoning.
Seventeen people were taken to hospital following the Motorsport with Attitude Limited event at Staffordshire County Showground, near Stafford, in February 2024.
Judge Kevin Grego said the company had been either “cavalier” in its approach to safety or “naive in the extreme”, according to a statement issued by Staffordshire County Council.
The firm pleaded guilty to five health and safety offences.
The number of patients requiring treatment almost led to hospital bosses declaring a major incident, the council said.
The court was told that the fire and rescue service received complaints about spectators feeling unwell and recorded high levels of carbon monoxide inside the main arena.
Lucy Taylor-Grime, prosecuting, said the firm had ignored advice in an email marked “urgent information” prior to the event which warned arrangements for extracting fumes were not adequate.
“This could have been much worse – although if the council had been informed prior to the event this situation could have been avoided,” she said.
The authority said the company’s director, David Rennie, told officers investigating the incident that an event marshall who had fallen ill looked as if he was “putting it on” and described the man’s appearance as like “an eight-year-old who doesn’t want to go to school”.
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