The director of a Suffolk roofing firm has been sentenced for safety failings after he was caught on camera using a power tool while balancing on the ridge of a house roof.

Anthony Nightingale of Copdock, Ipswich, was filmed using a petrol-powered disc cutter to cut through a tile while he and an employee worked on the roof without any measures in place to stop them being injured in a fall.

Mr Nightingale was prosecuted in his quality as director of 3A Roofing Ltd by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after a member of the public spotted the unsafe work at Dennington, Suffolk last July and, concerned, reported it to the HSE.

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Ipswich Magistrates’ Court was told that Mr Nightingale, 34, failed to use a suitable roof ladder to reach the ridge and instead he and his employee were seen clambering up and down the tiles. They were seen walking along the ridge where there were no measures in place to prevent them from falling off the roof.

Anthony Nightingale pleaded guilty to a breach of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £1,300. He was also ordered to pay £3,000 in prosecution costs and a £15 victim surcharge, the proceeds of which will be spent on services for victims and witnesses.

(CD/GK)