Jurors were shown holes where the main had corroded

Transco has been fined �15m after a corroded gas main caused an explosion, which killed a Lanarkshire family.

A jury found Transco guilty of breaching health and safety laws.

Lord Carloway said sections of the public had been exposed to significant danger which could have seen even more catastrophic consequences.

Andrew and Janette Findlay and their children Stacey, 13, and Daryl, 11, died in the explosion in Larkhall in December 1999.

The company have chosen to attempt to blame the explosion on an internal pipe leak, for which they are not responsible, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary Lord Carloway

The Health and Safety Executive found gas leaking from the main had made its way into the under-floor void in the house and subsequently the kitchen, where it ignited.

Passing judgement at the High Court in Edinburgh, Lord Carloway said: "In selecting the appropriate sentence I am acutely conscious of the deaths of Mr and Mrs Findlay and their two young children, but this case is not about exacting revenge for their deaths nor does it involve any assessment of the value of their lives in monetary terms.

"Rather it is about gauging an appropriate penalty for a serious failure over many years of one of our main privatised utilities, a company in whom the public put their faith and to whom they pay substantial sums of money to ensure the safe transportation of their fuel."

'No remorse'

The judge said that a number of factors in selecting the record level of the fine.

He said: "No form of discount is available in respect of any acceptance of responsibility by Transco for their manifest and now proven shortcomings.

"Rather the company have chosen to attempt to blame the explosion on an internal pipe leak, for which they are not responsible, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

The explosion caused devastation to the Findlays' home

"There was no evidence at all in this case that such an internal leak had occurred.

"That aspect of the defence by the company serves only to demonstrate that the corporate mind of Transco has little or no remorse for this tragedy which, they ought at least now to accept, was exclusively their own creation."

He said the firm had spent �345m on replacing ductile iron pipework after the Larkhall explosion.

But he said: "During the period up until the explosion at Larkhall substantial sections of the public were exposed to significant danger from corroded and corroding ductile iron mains in close proximity to their homes and workplaces."

Lord Carloway pointed out that evidence in the case showed Transco was aware by 1988 that within a decade of being laid ductile iron mains could corrode in adverse soil conditions and the problem had been highlighted by fatal blasts at Warrington and Ilkeston.

"The fact that the main leaked outside 42 Carlisle Road was a tragic misfortune for the Findlay family.