A council was fined £10,000 over an incident which saw six families evacuated from their homes and their belongings destroyed because of asbestos contamination.

A council was fined £10,000 over an incident which saw six families evacuated from their homes and their belongings destroyed because of asbestos contamination.

Residents of the Fraser Avenue flats in Inverkeithing, Fife, were asked to vacate the properties after the homes were contaminated during the replacement of water tanks.

Contractors ECG had gone into the attic to remove old water tanks and associated piping in November 2007.

Sheriff Ian Dunbar said: "It seems to me from all that was said that the major share of responsibility for this unfortunate incident must lie with Fife Council. The council simply did not alert ECG to the fact that there may have been asbestos in any of these blocks of flats.

"Had the council checked the appropriate records, they would have found that there had been no inspection by contractors. As a result of the failures here the occupiers of six houses lost everything they had."

At Dunfermline Sheriff Court, Fife and the ECG council pleaded guilty under Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 in relation to asbestos exposure and contamination.

The council was fined £10,000 while ECG was fined £2000 and £1700 on two separate counts.