Tom Horder successful in HSE appeal securing reduction in fine of half a million pounds

18th March 2025

Tom Horder, joint head of 3PB’s crime and regulatory crime team, represented VFS (Southampton) Limited, a manufacturer of custom works vehicles in their successful appeal against sentence.

At first instance the company was fined £600,000 after entering an early guilty plea to an offence under s.2 of HSWA 1974. The prosecution arose from a 2018 incident on their assembly line.

Instructed by Cliff Morris of law firm Paris Smith, Tom (pictured here) argued on appeal that i) this was a ‘medium’ culpability case rather than ‘high’, ii) the risk of harm was ‘low’ rather than ‘high’ as argued by the HSE, iii) actual harm caused was level B rather than level A and iv) this was not an exceptional case in which the financial resources of VFS (Southampton)’s much larger parent company should be taken into account by the Court.

The court accepted Tom’s arguments on all points and reduced the Company’s fine from £600,000 to £100,000.

To contact Tom, please email him on [email protected]. To instruct him, or see about his availability, contact his clerk Stuart Pringle on [email protected] or by calling him on 01962 868884.