WILLIAM Dawe, owner of Pennant Farm Caravan Park, St Endellion, pleaded guilty to serious health and safety offences and was fined £2,000 at Bodmin Magistrates 'Court on Tuesday. July 20.

Mr Dawe, 79, was also ordered to pay £2,000 towards Cornwall Council's legal costs.

Cornwall Council's Public Health and Protection team brought the prosecution after Mr Dawe ignored formal improvement notices and failed to take action over dangerous electrical installations and inadequate site lighting equipment.

A health and safety officer from the council carried out an inspection of Mr Dawe's caravan park in May 2009 and found exposed bare electrical wires and terminals in several of the nine static caravans on the site.

Mr Dawe had also been warned about the dangerous nature of the electrical faults several months earlier by an electrician who had carried out formal electrical certification of the caravans.

Cornwall Council served nine formal improvement notices on the site, requiring Mr Dawe to make the electrical wiring and circuits safe, as well as a schedule of works to provide adequate site lighting.

Despite repeated written warnings to Mr Dawe about the health and safety breaches, a subsequent inspection revealed no improvement in the site. In mitigation, Mr Dawe told the court that financial and health issues had prevented him from arranging for the required safety work to be carried out but that it had now been completed.

Lance Kennedy, Cornwall Council's Cabinet member for Community Safety and Neighbourhoods, said: "The fines awarded by the magistrates reflect the seriousness of this case. We do try to work with businesses, but we will not hesitate to take formal action through the courts if they ignore our advice and fail to take the appropriate steps to protect the safety of their workers or members of the public."

Senior Environmental Health Practitioner Tony Pepperell added: "Maintaining a good standard of health and safety in the workplace and on sites used by the public should not be seen as a burden. It reduces risks, costs and most importantly accidents."