A GO-KART operator whose health and safety failings left a woman scalped and paralysed after her hair became entangled around an axle has been fined £27,000.
Shenaz Ahmed was riding a kart with her husband when she suffered horrific and life-changing injuries.
The couple had been driving round an indoor track at The Garage entertainment complex in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, when the freak accident happened in April 2014.
Mrs Ahmed, of Cumnock, then 48, is now confined to a wheelchair, Kilmarnock Sheriff Court heard.
Lynne Jamieson, prosecuting, said Mrs Ahmed had been at risk of coming into contact with the exposed rear axle because of her position in the passenger seat. She added that it was “reasonably foreseeable” that hair, loose clothing or jewellery could get caught and there were inadequate measures in place to prevent this happening.
The Garage (Kilmarnock) Ltd admitted failing to ensure effective measures had been taken to prevent access to dangerous parts and failing to make suitable risk assessments for the dual-seater kart.
Ann Bonomy, defending, said owner David MacKenzie “extended his heartfelt apologies” to Mrs Ahmed. Sheriff Shirley Foran based the fine on the firm’s final accounts and took into account its “timely” plea of guilty.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article