Bosses at a Felixstowe pub have been ordered to pay nearly £60,000 after an employee suffered serious injuries when she fell through an open hatch.

The employee was on a trial shift at the Mariners Freehouse in Trimley St Mary in May 2019 when she went through the unguarded opening and fell two metres onto the cellar floor, hitting steps on the way.

Chelmsford Magostrates' Court heard how it had been usual practice at the Mariners to leave the hatch open, with staff members expected to remember and avoid the gap, but she was new, distracted and fell through.

The employee spent 36 days in hospital after suffered a collapsed lung, multiple broken ribs and other back and head injuries.

The court heard how video footage showed ropes surrounding the hatch had not been used, which had been left open and unguarded 29 times during the four days leading to the incident.

New safety measures including a new hatch, grille, handrail and non-slip treads have since been installed.

Mariners Inns Ltd, pleaded guilty to breaching sections 2 and 3 of the Health and Safety At Work Act 1974 and the company was ordered to pay a fine, surcharge and costs totalling £59,904.91.

District Judge King accepted the company did not set out to deliberately cause harm but said in his summing up that the risks of a large hole taking up the majority of a walking space can be foreseen and this accident could have happened to anyone there.

He warned that here is the potential for risks in any business and that business has an obligation and duty to reduce the risks as much as reasonably possible; the defendant did not.

Judge King said: "Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but hindsight here does not win the battle; I consider that this was an accident waiting to happen, given the inadequate measures taken."

*Hungry Hack reviews the Trimley Mariners