Jersey Unreported Judgments

Inferior Number Sentencing - Breach of Covid-19 Regulations

[2021]JRC127

Royal Court

(Samedi)

30 April 2021

The Attorney General

-v-

The Royal Yacht Hotel Limited

Sentencing by the Inferior Number of the Royal Court, following a guilty plea to the following charge:

Plea: Guilty. 

Details of Offence:

Between the period of early June and early September 2020, the defendant opened their sauna, steam room and jacuzzi facilities to hotel patrons, spa members and members of the public having spa treatments, when the law required such facilities to remain closed.  The breach came to light, and to an end, when a member of the public reported the matter on 7^th September 2020 to the Health and Safety Inspectorate ("the HSI"), which ordered the immediate closure of the facilities.

A representative from the HSI attended the defendant's premises in order to confirm that such facilities were closed.  Statements were taken from staff members and hotel guests, confirming the facilities had been reopened on 23^rd June 2020.  The witnesses stated that the permitted number of spa users was limited, in that only 12 persons were allowed to use the pool complex at any given time.  They suggested that efforts were made to reduce contact points and hand sanitising stations were also installed.

Stuart James Taylor, the CEO of the Yacht Hotel Ltd, attended an interview with the HSI.  Mr Taylor stated that he was responsible for all operating decisions made by the hotel and that he had made the decision to open all of the spa facilities without realising certain facilities were still prohibited by law.  He suggested that this had been an error and that the error was entirely his.  He apologised.

Article 2(1)(e) of the COVID-19 (Workplace Restrictions) (Jersey) Order 2020 ("the 2020 Order") prohibited "jacuzzis, plunge pools, steam rooms, saunas, Turkish baths, and the like" to be opened (the restriction was originally due to expire on 17^th September 2020 but was extended and is still in force at the date of sentence).  The original order had prohibited the opening of all indoor recreational facilities, including gyms and swimming pools.  Although the specific restrictions on gyms and swimming pools (deemed lower risk) were lifted on 12^th June 2020, those on jacuzzis, saunas and the like remained firmly in place.

Guidance for businesses was published by the Government of Jersey on its dedicated COVID-19 web pages.  At the time of the offending, the Island was at Level 1 of the Safe Exit Framework.  At each stage of the Safe Exit Framework, or as the advice from Public Health has changed, the Government has updated this guidance.  The gov.je webpages group the advice for businesses by industry sector. Under "Accommodation - hotels, B&Bs, self-catering, campsites" there is a sub heading in the guidance "On site leisure facilities" which stated that the use of communal hot tubs, saunas, steam rooms and jacuzzis was not permitted

Details of Mitigation:

Early guilty plea. 

Previous Convictions:

None. 

Conclusions:

Costs sought in the sum of £5,000. 

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Costs granted in the sum of £5,000. 

M. R. Maletroit Esq., Crown Advocate.

Advocate S. M. J. Chiddicks for the Defendant.

JUDGMENT

THE DEPUTY BAILIFF:

1.        We will give full reasons for our decision today in due course and those full reasons will be communicated in the usual way and published on the website in the usual way.  So, we are giving the briefest reasons now, together with the fine that the Court is imposing.

2.        The Royal Yacht Hotel is a large and substantial Jersey business and in normal circumstances a profitable one with a net profit for the last financial year prior to the pandemic in excess of £2million.  The sauna, steam room and jacuzzi facilities are part of the attraction of the hotel.  A business such as the Royal Yacht should adequately understand the regulations that govern it, particularly during a public health crisis such as the one that the Island faced last year and continues to face.  For a business to breach regulations such as these, particularly over a sustained period such as this is a significant breach of the criminal law.

3.        Between early June and early September, 2020, the hotel opened the sauna, steam room and jacuzzi to hotel patrons, spa members and members of the public when the law required such facilities to remain closed.  It was only the intervention of a member of the public which led to the Health and Safety Inspectorate being alerted to the situation and ensuring that the hotel spa was closed. 

4.        We note with concern that Ms Lilley, the manager of the spa at the hotel, queried on several occasions with senior management at the hotel whether the sauna, steam room and jacuzzi facilities were permitted to be open and she was told that they should. 

5.        The Crown has not suggested that the Royal Yacht deliberately breached the Covid regulations, but the hotel had closed all its spa facilities in March 2020 during the island-wide lockdown, and had sufficient resources available to it to ensure that it fully complied with its legal obligations.  Other hotels managed to comply with the relevant legislation during this period, but the Royal Yacht did not. 

6.        We have been told today that during the course of the public health crisis, in order to fund payments to its staff, the Royal Yacht has received £1,837,110 from the tax payer and the least the tax payer can expect in return is for the Royal Yacht to understand the criminal law in so far as it relates to Covid.

7.        As we have said, there were enquiries by spa staff as to whether or not the spa should remain open which were answered in the affirmative when the position could have been easily double checked by contacting the relevant authorities or taking legal advice.

8.        We agree that the conduct of the Royal Yacht Hotel fell significantly short of industry standards and also fell short of the wider responsibilities that large business had to the community during the pandemic.

9.        We agree with the Crown that the culpability of the defendant is high and that there was a significant risk of harm to the community presented by this breach of the Covid-19 regulations, and in our reasoned judgment we will deal in detail with the case law presented to us and the mitigation advanced in writing.

10.      We have had to stand back from the facts of this case and consider what the fine should be having regard to the substantial duration of this breach; the failure by senior management to take proper advice, the benefit to the company accruing from the breach, the risk of harm presented to the public, the defendant's financial position, the guilty plea and all the mitigation advanced before us and the need for this penalty imposed by the Court to "sting," and to amount to adequate punishment to this company and a deterrent to other businesses.

11.      Having regard to all these circumstances the fine that we impose is £350,000 to be paid within 6 months, together with £5,000 by way of a contribution towards the prosecution costs. 

Authorities

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