Adrian Farrow acts for national newsagents and convenience store business

November 18, 2014

Adrian Farrow from Exchange Chambers has acted for a national newsagents and convenience store business with over 12,000 staff, in a case brought by Wirral Council.

The case against Martin McColl Ltd  (now McColl’s Retail Group PLC) stemmed from a failure to carry out risk assessments for shop staff working alone thus exposing them to a risk of workplace violence, as well as other health and safety breaches.

The company pleaded guilty to six charges of breaching its duty of care to staff in May this year.

The judge acknowledged it was impossible to make shops “impregnable” but that there were systematic failures in health and safety features despite senior managers attempting to rectify problems, albeit too slowly.

The case followed a lengthy investigation by officers of Wirral council’s Environmental Health team into six violent robberies at four branches of McColls in Wirral between April 26, 2011 and January 2, 2012.