Commuters endured two hours of rail misery through a forced line closure because a leading housing developer failed to advise ground workers of the presence of an underground gas main, a court has heard.

An excavator struck and ruptured the pipework at a construction site in Norton Fitzwarren, near Taunton, on 11 October 2012, because the driver was completely unaware it was beneath him as he dug a trench.

It caused the closure of the nearby main railway line to the South West for emergency repairs, and landed BDW Trading Ltd, trading as Barratt Homes, in court.

Taunton magistrates were told the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the incident at the site of the Old Cider Works, in Station Road, and found that BDW Trading Ltd had failed to properly plan the work. The company had neglected to contact the utility owners to obtain up-to-date plans of the site.

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As a result, safe digging techniques were not being used because no-one on site had reason to believe they were working anywhere near a gas pipe. The court heard how a consortium of house builders was engaged in a long-term development project at the site, and that several different sub-contractors had worked there over a number of years prior to work stopping in 2008 due to the economic climate.

Two gas mains operated by separate supply companies run across the site and in 2009 one of these was renewed and re-routed. When building work recommenced in 2012, BDW Trading Ltd supplied its groundwork contractors with site maps that did not cover the entire site, and that did not show the new route of the gas main.

BDW Trading Ltd, of Bardon Hill, Leicestershire was fined £16,000 and ordered to pay £25,000 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Regulation 34(3) of the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2007.

(CD/JP)