A nightclub has been ordered to pay over £30k following an incident where a woman fell from a 40 foot window after being locked inside by staff.
The unnamed victim lay undiscovered for hours, suffering from significant injuries, after she desperately tried to escape when the venue in Cornwall shut, a court heard this week.
After trying to clamber out of the window - which is the equivalent height of a fourth floor - the woman suffered from complex pelvic fractures, a fractured wrist and sternum, a collapsed lung and a broken jaw.
She was only discovered by a passer-by the next morning.
The woman was then rushed to the major trauma unit at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, Devon, where she spent 15 days.
The facility representatives of 'The Club', based in St Austell, Cornwall, have pleaded guilty to two charges under Sections 2 and 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 following a Cornwall Council investigation.
The nightclub now been forced to pay £30,499 at Bodmin Magistrates Court on Tuesday in court expenses and fines.
A fine of £9,380 was also issued, alongside a surcharge of £181 and and costs of £20,938.
A report, which was issued by Cornwall Council Health and Safety team, has suggested that the victim became confused after entering an area of the club that was no longer in use.
After becoming disorientated, she made her way to a fire exit which she was unable to open.
Reportedly, the victim became trapped in a basement and then activated a fire alarm call point - which was ignored by staff who mistook the location of the alarm and silenced it.
Despite final checks being made by staff before closing the building for the night, they failed to find her and so she remained locked inside the premises.
During the night, the woman then found her way into the glass wash area where she climbed onto a sink and fell out of a window which she presumed she could escape through.
An investigation into the accident also revealed that safety systems within The Club at the time of the incident fell far below those which would be expected of such a premises.
Commenting on this, Councillor Martyn Alvey, the portfolio holder responsible for Public Protection and Enforcement Services at Cornwall Council, said: “This is a really awful case where a woman has suffered appalling injuries.
“Thankfully incidents like this are rare, but when businesses put people at risk by failing to adhere to health and safety regulations we will not hesitate to prosecute.”
