Former Flip Out Chester owners David Shuttleworth and Matthew Melling were given a fine of just over £6,000 each – despite 11 people breaking their backs in a seven-week period at their trampoline park while they were in charge.

They also were ordered to pay £60,000 costs between them and carry out 250 hours community service after earlier pleading guilty to a Health and Safety Act violation after 270 people were injured in accidents at their former venue.

Flip Out Chester is now run by new owners.

Jonathan Flattery Principal Partner of Express Solicitors said he believed the pair had cheated justice.

Jonathan said: “This is outrageous. It is a massive let-down for my clients and the fine is just a huge slap on the wrist. This provides no real justice or deterrent to others who may want to ride roughshod over health and safety laws.

“The sheer number of people injured at their venue over a short period showed they had a total disregard for health and safety. Justice has definitely not been served in this case for my clients who in many cases spent years in rehab. Due to the severity of the injuries caused by the defendants’ negligence and the huge impact on their victims lives, a custodial sentence or much higher fine or suspended sentence should have been given. But they can feel vindicated that the defendants pleaded guilty.

He added: “What sort of message does this send to the industry to ensure venues take health and safety seriously. It is hugely disappointing and the sheer amount of public money spent on this investigation demanded a better result.

“But now a decision has been made, even though it is not what they wanted or expected, victims can finally get some sort of closure to what was a traumatic period of their life.”
You can catch up on an interview with Jonathan on BBC North West Tonight (about 4 minutes in).

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