A company trading in used car parts has been fined more than £20,000 after a quarter of a teenager’s body was burned when a skip fire exploded.

The 15-year-old was working for Grublogger Ltd, based in Brighton Road, Lower Kingswood, Tadworth, a company specialising in the trade of used Jaguar spare parts, when the incident happened in March last year.

The teenager was working at the company’s site in Salfords when he was engulfed by a fireball as he used petrol to accelerate the burning of scrap car parts in a skip.

He had removed his t-shirt before the fireball erupted because it was a hot day and suffered serious burns to his face, neck, chest and arms. 

A second teenage worker sustained minor flash burns in the incident.

The company was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on Tuesday, July 22.

A statement released by the HSE stated: "Redhill Magistrates’ Court heard that the injured workers had been instructed to burn unwanted parts in the skip using petrol that had been siphoned off from old cars.

"HSE established they did so with the blessing of Grublogger’s managing director.

"The court was told that it was completely unnecessary to burn the unwanted parts in the skip and the workers had received no formal training or instruction.

"HSE inspectors also identified failings with the storage and control of petrol and sources of ignition in the company’s workshop."

The company was fined £23,000 and ordered to pay £5,113 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching health and safety laws.

HSE Inspector Andrew McGill said: "This was a wholly preventable incident arising from a clearly dangerous practice that should never have been allowed.

"Young people need careful management and proper supervision in the workplace, with the onus on duty-holders to provide additional protection because they inherently lack experience and maturity.

"The training, instruction and supervision in this case were clearly inadequate.

"There was no need to use the skip as an incinerator, and if burning waste was the preferred method of disposal then it should have been done properly, using the proper equipment and with proper management and control measures."