Cameron House admitted to breaches of fire safety rules which led to the death of Richard Dyson and his partner Simon Midgley in the hotel fire in December 2017. The night porter, Christopher O’Malley, had placed a plastic bag of ash in a cupboard which contained kindling and newspapers which led to the fire.
The hotel was ordered to pay £500,000 following a guilty plea. Mr O’Malley also pled guilty to breaching health and safety legislation and received a community payback order.
Dumbarton Sheriff Court had heard that the staff were not trained properly in the safe disposal of ash and that the hotel lacked written procedures. The ash bins outside the hotel were full having not been emptied since two months before the fire and therefore Mr O’Malley placed the ash in the concierge cupboard. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service told managers not to store combustibles in the concierge cupboard – staff however, continued to do so.