A HOTELIER at one of Morecambe's most prestigious of venues was fined by magistrates this week for staging a dance band in unsafe conditions.

Mr Philip Horton of the Broadway hotel was responsible as the holder of a public entertainment licence for making sure a line dancing event was safe for 150 members of the public last November.

But the prosecution lawyer for Lancaster city council, Miss Debbie Storr, argued that exits were blocked by speakers, a large speaker was precariously balanced over the heads of the bands, the electrical equipment was not checked and flags and decorations (potentially fire safety hazards) were erected without permission.

But the lawyer speaking for Mr Horton, Mr David Hardy, said his client had been badly let down.

He explained: "It was an organisation called Dixie Stampede who regularly held line dancing events at the Broadway. They had been using the Broadway address for 18 months. My client accepts he may have been naive in letting them organise the whole event but there were no fewer than seven members of the Dixie Stampede committee in attendance that night.

"One of the organisers, Mr Wilkinson, booked two bands by mistake and that caused a lot of the trouble. My client has been a entertainments licence holder for 12 years and had no previous problems. This has caused him great shock and distress."

In the end the magistrates fined Mr Horton £1,000 (the maximum fine is £5,000) plus £200 costs. The magistrate said: "I think you've learned a hard lesson but of course we must take anything endangering the public, seriously."

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