A care home business run by private health and care provider BUPA has been ordered to pay a record £1.04m after a resident died in a fire while smoking at one of its care homes.
BUPA Care Services (ANS) Ltd was fined £937,500 for fire safety failings and ordered to pay £104,000 prosecution costs at Southwark Crown Court yesterday. It is the highest ever fine for fire safety breaches in the UK.
London Fire Brigade brought the prosecution against BUPA under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order after it was called to the blaze at the Manley Court care home on John Williams Close in Brockley in March 2016.
Cedric Skyers, a 69-year-old wheelchair user at the home, died in a fire whilst smoking unsupervised in a shelter in the garden of the home. A care assistant saw the fire from a first-floor window and called 999 before staff attempted to put the fire out, but Mr Skyers sadly died from his injuries.
