Cambridgeshire Council Sentencing for Busway Deaths Scheduled for March

Cambridgeshire County Council, which has acknowledged violations of health and safety legislation following the deaths of three individuals in incidents on a guided busway, will face sentencing by a judge in several months. Judge Mark Bishop indicated that he would impose a penalty on the council during a sentencing hearing set for March 13-14. During a case management hearing at Cambridge Crown Court, the judge was informed by the council’s legal representative that extensive information regarding the local authority’s financial situation would be provided at the hearing next year. A prosecutor told Judge Bishop that a commercial entity convicted of similar offenses would typically anticipate a fine in the range of seven or eight figures. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the council after three people died and a teenager sustained serious injuries over a six-year period. Jennifer Taylor, Steve Moir, and Kathleen Pitts all died after collisions with buses on The Busway, which serves Cambridge, Huntingdon, and St Ives, between 2015 and 2021. In September 2024, Dr Stephen Moir, the council’s chief executive, issued an apology. “We fully recognise and accept that during the historic operation of the guided busway, when these incidents occurred, that we fell far short of meeting these standards,” he stated in a press release from the council. He added: “For that we are truly sorry.” At an earlier court hearing in October, the council admitted two breaches of the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act. Barrister Ben Compton KC, representing the council, informed the latest court hearing that the authority’s “financial circumstances” would need to be taken into account before a sentence is passed. He commented: “The court is going to need a lot of information about the financial circumstances of Cambridgeshire County Council.” Prosecutor Pascal Bates, who represents the HSE, further stated: “A commercial organisation would be looking at a fine at least in seven figures, if not eight figures.”