At the first court hearing at the Magistrates Court in June this year, HUGO BOSS pleaded guilty to the related Health & Safety charges and in doing so, the company made clear that it would fully live up to its responsibilities in connection with the incident.
Advertisement
An inquest has concluded that the store should have done more to prevent the mirror falling, and fined the company £1.2m.
The judge, who said it was a “miracle” the mirror had not fallen sooner, added: “I am satisfied that the breach goes to the very top of the company”.
Judge Ross said: “I am not saying that Hugo Boss United Kingdom did not have a health and safety system”.
‘The company was growing, it was growing in terms of retail outlets, in terms of turnover and profits.
There had been numerous “near misses” with mirrors at other stores across the country, the judge added.
“Unknown to the Harrison family at that time and, it seems, unrecognised by anyone at Huge Boss that mirror had not been fixed to the wall but had negligently been left free-standing without any fixings”, Berlin said.
“While Simon Harrison was trying on the suit, Austen was moving the wings of the mirror”.
“It wasn’t fixed to the wall despite its own requirements”. He said: “I heard someone gasp and saw a large mirror had fallen over”.
Berlin said contractors had hurried to convert the pop-up shop from a Burberry store that had been there previously.
The mirror arrived at the store in September 2012 and was placed by the tuxedos, before being move to the changing area, the court heard. It was balanced like a ‘domino, ‘ the boy’s father said.
The massive mirror had been left standing free rather than being attached to a wall when it fell down in Bicester Village, Oxfordshire, on June 4, 2013.
Despite a recommendation that all mirrors should be fixed to walls – and senior staff and store managers undergoing health and safety training in 2010 that specifically highlighted this point – the problem was not fully addressed and another mirror was found propped up by a piece of wood in a changing room at the Bluewater store in Kent later that year.
Judge Peter Ross yesterday ordered Hugo Boss to pay £1.2m for the two breaches but did not impose compensation because the firm has already settled a civil case with Austen’s family.
Advertisement
“The outcome of this failing is as bad as one could reasonably imagine”, Mr Laidlaw said.
