A landowner has been jailed for nine months for failing to comply with enforcement notices, which required him to put edge protection around a hillside car park to stop them from potentially sliding down a steep bank.

In February 2008 the HSE received a complaint from a member of the public that a site in The Burrows, St Ives, was being used as a car park near the edge of a valley slope, with a steep 30-metre drop to houses below.

Inspectors issued a Prohibition Notice to Eastwood, which required him to prevent parking within five metres of the slope edge. Two Improvement Notices were also issued requiring edge protection to be put in place around the valley edge of the lower car park, and for a geographical survey to be carried out at the site as there was evidence of subsidence around the edge.

When the inspectors returned in June 2008 they found that he had not taken any action to comply with the notices issued against him in respect of the car park. Consequently, the HSE began prosecution proceedings against him on account of his failure to comply.

Despite the prosecution hanging over him, Nicholas Andrew Eastwood continued to ignore the notices and, on 6 August 2009, emergency services were called to the site because a car was spotted hanging over the edge of the slope. Householders living below the site were evacuated while the car was removed.

Penwith District Council, now Cornwall Council, subsequently took steps to prevent members of the public from accessing the car park as the edge remained unprotected.

Nicholas Andrew Eastwood appeared at Truro Crown Court  on 25 May and was given a nine-month custodial sentence after pleading guilty to breaching s3(2) and 33(1)(g) of the HSWA 1974.