Highland hotel fined £14,000 over failings that led to death of American tourist
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A Highland hotel has been fined £14,000 after an American tourist died in a horror accident when he stopped breathing after toppling backwards from a unsteady bench.
Patrick McGuire (67) had been visiting Scotland with his wife Anne when the tragedy struck.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that the pair had been spending the night of April 12, 2019, at Glengarry Castle Hotel, near Invergarry.
Fiscal depute Roderick Urquhart said that Mr McGuire had went out in the rear grounds of the country house hotel around 10.30pm to take some photos and have a cigarette.
Mr Urquhart said: "His wife Anne retired to bed waking at approximately 00:30 on April 13, 2019 and noticed her husband had not returned.
"Anne McGuire tried unsuccessfully to call him and then set about searching the hotel for him.
"She then extended her search outside to the hotel grounds, whereupon she eventually found Mr McGuire lying on his back with his head touching a nearby wall, in a seated position on a bench that had fallen backwards."
The prosecutor went on to say that Mr McGuire had no pulse and was not breathing as well as being cold to the touch.
She alerted hotel staff and ambulance and police attended.
His cause of death was ruled as "positional asphyxiation" after becoming trapped against the wall and bench and becoming unconscious.
Mr Urquhart said one of the police constables noted that a similar bench nearby had a tendency to tip backwards when sat on.
A later investigation found that groundsmen had propped up the 72kilogram Victorian style bench's back legs with small wooden blocks to stop it sinking into the grass following bad weather.
The benches had been a fixture for around 60 years and had never been involved in an accident before, the court heard.
One of the owners of the family run business Robert MacCallum had identified a risk with benches sinking into the grass during wet weather.
However despite hiring a professional firm to carry out a full risk assessment of the hotel and grounds, the garden furniture was not identified as a specific risk and was not included in the regular maintenance list.
Health and Safety later took over the investigation and the inspector concluded that the benches were structurally sound but only when on solid ground.
Mr Urquhart said: "In his report he said that he considered that the reasonably practical measures he would have expected to have been taken by the hotel would include an assessment of garden furniture."
The court heard that since the incident the owners had carried out improvements to its procedures and had replaced the old benches with wooden ones that were on hard ground.
Defence agent Jaimie McGready offered the owners "sincere condolences" to the family and friends of Mr McGuire.
Both of them - Robert and Donald MacCallum - were in court for the hearing.
The solicitor said: "It is a matter of deep regret that Donald MacCallum and Robert MacCallum appear in court today due to the tragic death of one of their guests."
The pair offered support to the widow in the aftermath of Mr McGuire's and she later sent them a thank you card.
However she said the horror accident represented an isolated incident and that they had both made attempts to fulfil their obligations.
Sheriff Gary Aitken also offered his condolences to the family and friends of the deceased.
He added: "No one going on holiday expecting that they will not come home.
"It is a tragedy that this event occurred."
Sheriff Aitken reduced the fine from £20,000 to £14,000 as a result of the early plea of guilt to the charge under the health and safety act 1974.
He said it "was in no way a value of Mr McGuire's life" but rather a reflection on the scale of the shortcomings of the hotel.
