Car wash fined over employee cover

An Essex car wash company found guilty of failing to purchase compulsory insurance to protect its employees has been fined.

Prowash Systems, which runs a car wash in Rayleigh, was fined £6,750 after Southend Magistrates’ Court heard how it failed to produce a current Employers’ Liability Compulsory Insurance (ELCI) certificate when visited by a Health and Safety Awareness Officer in December 2009.

All employers need to have an ELCI certificate and must show a copy to a HSE official immediately on request.

When Prowash failed to do this, it was issued with an ELCI “notice to produce”. The company did not comply with this notice and representatives from the company later failed to attend an interview with HSE inspectors.

Prowash also failed to attend court, with Magistrates hearing the case in the company’s absence. They found it guilty of five breaches of Section 1(1) of the Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969, for failing to hold ELCI.

Magistrates also found the company guilty of breaching Section 4(2)(b) of the same Act, for failing to produce a valid ELCI certificate upon request. The company must also pay a further £1,000 in costs.

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