WHSmith fined after customer falls three metres through open trapdoor

Retailer ordered to pay record £337,500 after shopper plunged into basement

The customer was left with multiple injuries including a broken ankle (PA)

WHSmith has been handed the biggest fine in the company’s 225 year history after a customer fell almost 3m through an open trapdoor at one of its stores.

Patricia Rodway had gone to the high street retailer’s branch in Taunton, Somerset, to buy a birthday card for her friend when she “stepped into the void” after staff opened the door to move stock.

Taunton Crown Court heard the store usually tasked an employee with warning shoppers when the door was open, but the worker on the day of the incident in February 2014 “wasn’t wholly attentive”.

“Ms Rodway stepped into the void and fell down. Her fall [was] only broken by falling onto the stairs,” said Jonathan Bates, prosecuting.

“The sales assistant has described that Ms Rodway’s arm caught the chain holding the trapdoor open and wholly or partially pulled it shut.

“The sales assistant escaped with bruising and was fortunate not to follow Ms Rodway headfirst into the hole.”

Ms Rodway, now 64, plunged 2.95m into the basement, leaving her with multiple injuries including a cut to her head and a broken ankle.

Mr Bates said the victim “could of course have been killed”.

“The effects for her and her family, because she previously looked after her husband, are emotionally devastating and physically ongoing,” he said.

A subsequent health and safety investigation into the incident by Taunton Deane Council found the company had similar trapdoors in two of its UK stores.

One, in a shop in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, the local authority said, had “given rise to similar dangers”, while another branch in Southwold, Suffolk, had a “similarly inadequately controlled basement”.

Defending, James Ageros offered his apologies on behalf of the retailer to Ms Rodway, who was in the courtroom for the hearing.

“This is not a company that had no system for health and safety management,” he said.

“It did take health and safety seriously but unfortunately, in relation to this incident, there was a lapse in those systems.”

Mr Ageros said the incident has had a “significant effect” on WHSmith, insisting “lessons have been learned”.

The company was fined £337,500 after admitting two health and safety breaches.

A spokesman for the firm said: “WHSmith always puts the safety of customers and staff first. Despite measures being in place, a customer was sadly injured in our Taunton store in 2014.

“Following the incident, a thorough review was completed, changes were made to prevent this happening again, and we have apologised to the customer.”

Additional reporting by agencies