A WALLASEY labourer on whom a ceiling fell while he was working in Birkenhead Town Hall won £5,400 in damages from his former employers Wirral Council last week.

During a three-day trial, Liverpool County Court heard that the town hall was undergoing refurbishment by the council's building department when the accident happened in 1992.

Father-of-four Jan Cotgrove was using a hammer and chisel to cut out a 'chase' in the ceiling so that a space could be made to hold electrical cabling when the ceiling fell in.

It knocked him from the trestle he was on and Mr Cotgrove fell six feet to the ground, injuring his shoulder and causing him to be off work for 20 weeks.

Mr Cotgrove, aged 42, of Rake Lane, Wallasey, successfully sued Wirral Council for damages for personal injury and loss of earnings. The council had denied liability and the damages award was an out-of-court agreement.

Finding against the council, Judge Richard Hamilton said that the town hall was a historic building where the ceilings were thicker than usual nowadays.

He said he dismissed the idea that it had 'just happened' or that it had been clumsiness by Mr Cotgrove which caused the collapse.

There had been some evidence of flooding above the ceiling the previous May and it had been suggested that fluctuations in temperature due to heating the building to preserve it might have made it more likely to fall. Judge Hamilton said he accepted Mr Cotgrove's evidence that the paint on the ceiling was peeling and there were cracks in the plaster presenting warning signs.

"There is no dispute that the complainant told his foreman, Mr Kevin O'Reilly, who told him if he did not get on with the job he would risk his overtime," added the judge. "Though I do not paint him as a bullying tyrant, that would put pressure on any ordinary workman."

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