Father says justice still not done over Shrewsbury explosion
Tuesday 12th April 2011, 8:00PM BST.
The father of one of the victims of the Shrewsbury explosion today said justice had still not be done despite news they will be offered compensation for what happened.
Steve Godbold, whose son Scott was seriously injured in the blast on the corner of Bridge Street and Smithfield Road in January 2010, said he was still demanding answers over the cause of the incident and who was responsible.
National Grid and BT yesterday announced they would compensate 11 victims, including five who were seriously hurt.
The firms said the exact amount to be paid out was still to be finalised but the victims had been offered settlements. Both companies have agreed to pay out while the issue of liability is determined.
But Mr Godbold said he was looking forward to that matter being resolved.
He said: “Scott will get a payment and can get on with his life but I’m looking forward to it going to court and finding out who is at fault. Scott deserves a payout for what he’s been through but I want justice and at the moment justice has not been served.”
His comments come as Sarah Pearse, who lived with Scott and Sam Devine-Turner in a flat on the corner of Bridge Street and Smithfield Road, today said the announcement that compensation will be paid had given her some closure.
She said she had moved on after a difficult few mo- nths initially following the explosion.
Miss Pearse, 20, said she was planning to start a university course in September in Birmingham studying art and design.
National Grid and BT said they would continue to talk to the victims in a bid to reach a “satisfactory settlement”.
By Russell Roberts
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This isn’t about blame, it isn’t about facts so it certainly isn’t about the truth. It’s about lawyers, lawyers and their fat egos and their fat unjustifiable immoral fees.
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Why the obsession with who’s to blame?
Accidents happen. Get over it.
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maybe not an obsession !!! I think wrong term applied.
IF there was fault or BREACH of H&S in the construction of the BT chamber should not that person/company not be made accountable and punished, people could have died!
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Steve, There might have been a fault in the design, construction, use of equipment or in the training of personnel ~ but there will not have been a “BREACH of H&S”
If there has been a Breach it will have been in the duties of the owners/employers/suppliers of the site/equipment.
Ill informed opinions like this are what get Health and Safety a bad name
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Steve – “BREACH of H&S” (your capitals!)
Which Act/Law/Regs do you refer too?
The builders/designers/owners of the area/chamber/construction have duties, If they were breached there is possibly a claim in a civil court under common law.
Punishment is a matter for criminal courts to judge.
Inaccurate comments like yours just get Health and Safety a bad name.
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In response to ‘GB’…
Those kids are scarred for life and maybe it is something that could happen again, maybe to your house GB? So we all need to know who is to blame.
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Mr Godbold, accidents happen and tragedies occur every day. The 2 companies, who have both been exonerated of blame, are offering compensation, despite the fact that both could easily get out of paying it, after all, they are not to blame. So bearing in mind there is no-one to blame, what do you want? Blood? Vengeance is not a pretty attribute and sometimes it is time to let go. This isn’t about justice at all is it? Justice has more than been served with the compensation offer.
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Totally agree with GB and JH.
What happened was horrific and devastating to those in involved and their families.
However, this is real life. Accidents do happen. And instead of sitting playing the blame game against each other, as is usual in these cases, BT and National Grid are being unusually ethical.
The need to draw people over hot coals in the courts just to make yourself feel better about it is an extremely ugly and uncivilised trait.
The ability to forgive and move on should be something we all aspire too. Bitterness and Hate never solve anything.
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All those involved need to be left alone to get on with their lives in their own way and to make their own decisions. Continual press coverage does not help their healing process or allow them to move on and neither do pushy parents. Let it be.
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Yeah gas explosions are a natural event like being run over by a car.
Perhaps JH needs to understand that.
I suppose God was in a bit of a mood on that day was he and thought no, I’m bored with lightening strikes?
Your comments are quite unwarranted JH.
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Why are my comments unwarranted? Because they are spoken with reason and forethought? Compensation has been offered, as NM said, in an unusually ethical way by the 2 companies involved despite the fact that no blame has been laid at their door. Your comment about ‘gas explosions’ and ‘being run over by a car’ being a ‘natural event’ are daft. If a member of my family was mown down by a car driven by someone who had just suffered a heart attack and was unconscious, I could hardly blame the driver could I? It would be a different story if the driver were speeding or drunk. Similarly, in this scenario, if the companies were deemed to be negligent then yes, the courts are there for such a purpose. But no one has been blamed and sadly, we have to accept that gas, being a flammable and volatile substance, is dangerous.
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Interesting commments, I will be brief, the reason I want justice is nothing to do with being a pushy parent, lives could have been lost through no fault of the occupants.
What most will not know is that an independent report which was independantly comissioned clearly attributes blame, think about the BT Chamber !!!! There are laws in place which covers how and where these are constructed, these laws were clearly ignored, if that means Im a pushy parent so be it, I could have lost my son, I think its a small price to find and make public who or what was to blame.
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The use of the sound bites ‘closure’ and ‘getting on with life’is just part of the Jeremy Kyle culture.
We all need and cannot live without the services we all take as a given e.g. gas,water,electricity,roads etc but when something goes wrong many people want to take on the mantle of victims and expect compensation.
You did not lose your son – can you not be happy about that?
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Adverse events need to be thoroughly examined, mainly to try to help ensure that they do not happen again.
If there has been some sort of cover up,and it is very hard indeed to conceive that this was a natural event due to the circumstances that were involved.
I am not surprised that some people are not happy with the conclusions of the investigation.
Quite rightfully the victims of this who were all extremely lucky to survive, are going to get some financial compensation.
It will never erase the emotional and psychological damage such an occurance can have however.
Some of the comments on this issue are from very sad people in my view.
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Compensation is going to be decided to give the victims some closure and the liability will continue to be explored, quite rightly JH.
Car drivers have to be medically fit to drive and everything that can be is done to avoid unexpected health incidents at the wheel.
All incidents involving someone found not to be fit will be fully investigated to ensure that it could not reasonably be expected that the person may be taken ill whilst in control of a motor vehicle.
If that person had recently had surgery and been told not to drive for example then they would have been negligent.
When it comes to supply of utilities particularly volatile materials such as gas then stringent rules apply to anyone who may disturb or who provides such products.
The victims of this extremely traumatic incident had the right to be safe and were not, SIMPLES.
If it had been found that no one could have reasonably foreseen this explosion then there will be no liability but it is highly unlikely as a fractured gas main does not occur and remain undetected without negligence.
Your reason and forethought are somewhat lacking and my analogy to a lightening strike made it quite clear what can be considered an ‘Act of God’ which is infact very rare.
It also seems incredibly small minded to not feel empathy with the parent of the victim of what was such an unusual and very dangerous incident.
[You should be happy you did not lose your son.]
What sort of comment is that? How do you know what physical or emotional consequences have been suffered by these young people?
I can imagine that Mr Godbold would have preferred it not to have happened at all to his son.
There seem to be a lot of bitter and sad people around here.
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Unless there had been significant work done in the days beforehand by the utilities how could this incident have been averted?
Why did the occupants of the premises not phone transco the previous night ( if my understanding of the story is correct), if they had shown some common sense then all the injuries etc would never have occurred.
Life, the blame game we all play whether we like it or not.
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your understanding is incorrect Jamie, read the FULL report
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Eva Land, thank you for posting, i read the other replies and decided none of the comments warrented a reply, I have plenty I could say, I will save it until after the court case, there is still a lot of information which is not yet in the public domain, once it is made public I hope that it may show some on here just how misinformed they are, thx again Eva, you posted most of what I wanted to say, I look forward to posting my own reply in due course.
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