James Aitkenhead and Robert Steel v. Procurator Fiscal,Stirling [2006] HCJAC 51

The appellants presently face a complaint at Selkirk Sheriff Court libelling two charges of a contravention of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. The appellants intimated pleas to the competency and relevancy of the charges. Following the decision of the sheriff at first diet the appellants appealed. The appeal was on two grounds. First, it was said that the Sheriff erred in failing to sustain the objection in that section 143 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, which deals with summary proceedings against bodies of trustees, only permits a summary complaint against a trust and not against its trustees. That applied to the trustees both in their capacity as individuals and in their capacity as trustees. Secondly, it was said that the Sheriff erred in that each of the offences libelled could be committed only by a person who was an employer, but there was no averment that either appellant was an employer. On either of the foregoing bases, it was said that the complaint was incompetent and irrelevant. The court considered here whether there were difficulties with the charges in their present form and, if so, whether they could be cured by amendment by the prosecutor.