Firm fined over death of more than 27,000 chickens

Leicestershire County Council said more than 27,000 chickens died (generic picture)

A firm has been fined £44,000 after more than 27,000 chickens died following a "computer malfunction" at a farm.

Leicestershire County Council said the birds died at Hose Lodge Farm in Colston Bassett, Nottinghamshire, on 26 May 2020.

The chickens were in a shed on a warm day when a ventilation system failed, the council added.

Hudson & Sanders Limited admitted four charges under the Animal Welfare Act.

The firm was fined at Leicester Magistrates' Court on Wednesday.

The authority said about 50,000 chickens were being kept in the shed when "the systems that regulated air flow, vital for the welfare of the chickens, failed".

Inlets on the side of the building closed but another tunnel ventilation system failed to open, creating a sealed unit, the council said.

An alarm sounded when the temperature in the shed rose to 37C (99F) and staff were alerted, but council investigators said that should have been set to go off at 27C (81F).

'Awful but rare'

By the time staff were able to get into the shed, 27,249 of the chickens - which were being farmed for their meat - had died, the council said.

The company, the council added, had "failed to ensure there were enough staff to look after the chickens and they were not trained to the level they needed to be".

The council said it argued the offence was aggravated because an Animal and Plant Health Agency vet had visited the farm in November 2019 and raised concerns about "there not being sufficient staff or a ventilation plan".

District Judge Nick Watson fined the company £44,000, ordered it to pay the county council's costs of £12,634.83 and a victim surcharge of £190.

After the hearing on Wednesday, the county council's head of regulatory services Gary Connors said: "This was an awful but thankfully rare incident in terms of the scale of unnecessary suffering.

"However, we hope the level of fine prompts businesses operating in this sector to review their operations to ensure they have adequate staffing and procedures in place to avoid such a distressing incident happening again."