'Like something out of a horror film': Shopping centre fined £75k after man loses toe in escalator

A shopping centre has been fined £75,000 after a escalator severed a customer's toe.

Michael Reddington, 27, had to be freed from the escalator by firefighters and underwent emergency surgery after the incident at the West End Arcade in Nottingham in March 2012.

He got on the escalator and unknowingly placed his left foot inside a missing part of one of the steps which he hadn't spotted due to poor lighting.

When it reached the top, his foot was crushed between the step and the escalator platform.

Shopping centre managing agents Hodgson Elkington LLP have now been fined £75,000 after they pleaded guilty to health and safety breaches at Nottingham Crown Court.

The firm admitted exposing people to risk by failing to maintain the escalator in the arcade properly and in a safe condition.

Mr Reddington, from St Ann's, Nottingham, had to learn to walk again after the incident and is still racked by pain almost four years later.

Fining the shopping centre company, Judge Andrew Hamilton said: "Mr Reddington's injury was truly traumatic and life-changing.

"This company seems to have perhaps forgotten its job is not to simply to collect rents from the tenants but to ensure the safety of the public.

"This is an extremely serious incident and involves a member of the public.

"It could have indeed been a much more serious injury; one only has to contemplate someone's leg going up there or it being a child, then the injury could have been much more serious."

Tom Gent, defending said the incident was a "matter of significant embarrassment to the company."

He told the court: "They are truly sorry for the dreadful injuries that were caused to Michael Reddington and are extremely apologetic that this was allowed to happen."