Northamptonshire shoppers were forced to run for safety as a scaffold collapsed and fell some 20 metres towards them, a court has heard.

Nobody was hurt, but several people required treatment for shock as a result of the incident at the Willow Place Shopping Centre in Queen's Square, Corby on 17 August 2012.

Local firm Desborough Scaffolding Limited, of Desborough, was prosecuted today (16 December) by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation established that the scaffold was structurally unsound.

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Northampton Magistrates' Court was told that debris netting had been fitted to the scaffolding tubes, but in high winds on the day it acted as a sail and caused the structure to pull away and apart – sending metal poles and other materials raining to the ground below. The falling scaffold smashed through shop canopies below and also pulled down signs. Several businesses were forced to close while the clean-up took place and the area was made safe. The incident was captured on CCTV.

The HSE investigation found the scaffold had not been erected in a way to ensure it would remain stable, and had not been designed by a competent person to ensure it had adequate strength and rigidity for the purpose and environment it was to be used in.

Desborough Scaffolding Limited, of Stoke Albany Road, Desborough, were fined £16,000 and ordered to pay £4,678 in costs after pleading guilty to single breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007.

(CD/MH)