News & Events: Regulatory & Disciplinary
Driving instructor allowed to continue working after using mobile
Mark Ruffell has successfully appealed on behalf of a Driving Instructor who had been declared to be not a fit and proper person to be an instructor following receiving 6 penalty points for using his mobile telephone whilst instructing. The Registrar of Driving Instructors ordinarily seeks to remove an instructor from the register of approved […]
Lucy’s Law
On Monday 6 April 2020, the Government brought into force new legislation in England to ban the commercial third-party sale of puppies and kittens, under six months old, by anyone other than a registered breeder. The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 provided for the licensing of persons in England to […]
Potential Legal Issues Within Football due to the Coronavirus Epidemic
Sports Law Barrister & Director of 4D Sports Group Jesse Cook joined TalkSport – Weekend Sport Breakfast on Sunday 29th March to discuss the potential legal issues within football due to the Coronavirus epidemic. To listen to the discussion please click here. For further information on Jesse’s practice please contact Jonathan Cue on 020 7353 0711 or via […]
James Byrne joins Pump Court Chambers
We are delighted to announce that James Byrne has joined Pump Court Chambers. James is an experienced practitioner with a wide civil practice encompassing commercial, property, personal injury and regulatory law. He also maintains a practice in the area of private children law. James said: “I am absolutely delighted to be joining a set held […]
Counsel representing Rifles Regiment at Inquest following fatal march
Four barristers from Pump Court Chambers (Tim Akers, Lucy Morell, Richard Tutt and Tom Wilkins) are currently appearing in an Article 2 inquest before Birmingham’s Senior Coroner, representing members of The Rifles Regiment. The inquest concerns the death of Cpl Joshua Hoole, who died on the hottest day of the year in 2016 on an […]
Judge rejects Health & Safety sentencing guidelines in a non-registration case
In a case involving a slimming clinic that had traded without being registered with the CQC, the CQC had argued that the Sentencing Council’s ‘Health and Safety Offences, Corporate Manslaughter and Food Safety and Hygiene Offences Definitive Guideline’ should apply. CQC had told District Judge Woollard who was sitting at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court, that two […]
Five members appointed to list of Specialist Regulatory Advocates in Health & Safety and Environmental Law
Pump Court are delighted to announce that five members of chambers have been appointed to the list of Specialist Regulatory Advocates in Health & Safety and Environmental Law. Richard Tutt has been promoted to the A list; Mark Ruffell, Tim Akers and Ellie Fargin have been appointed to the B list. The above members have […]
Latest appointments to the HSE Panel
Pump Court Chambers is delighted to announce that five members have been approved to the list of Specialist Regulatory Advocates in Health & Safety and Environmental Law in this latest round of appointments. Richard Tutt has been promoted to the A List; Mark Ruffell, Tim Akers and Eleanor Fargin have been appointed to the B […]
From ‘Inadequate’ to ‘Good’ – turning round a Care Provider’s rating
Mark Ruffell was instructed to represent a well-established domiciliary care provider who faced having their registration being cancelled by the CQC. The background is a familiar tale of a service provider who had previously been rated as ‘Good’, finding that in a routine inspection in 2016 it ‘Required Improvement.’ In early 2017 it was inspected […]
Safety Errors can be very Expensive
Westminster City Council v The Zoological Society of London [ZSL] On 22nd October 2018 ZSL was fined a total of £40,000 with costs of £8000 for failing to ensure the safety of an employee, and linked, failing to have in place adequate a risk assessment. On 16th July 2016 a keeper using a step ladder […]
Peter Asteris and Tim Akers secure acquittals after five-month fraud trial at Southampton Crown Court
Peter Asteris and Tim Akers secured the acquittal of a client of all offences charged in the longest-running trial that has taken place at Southampton Crown Court. Over the course of five months, eleven defendants were on trial for charges of conspiracy to defraud and fraud in a Trading Standards prosecution that arose out of […]
Mark Ruffell successfully represents solicitor before Disciplinary Tribunal
Mark Ruffell has successfully mitigated on behalf of a solicitor who admitted contacting her imprisoned client by mobile phone; sending him 102 text messages in less than three months. In mitigation before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, Mr Ruffell said that at the time his client set up her own practice, she did not appreciate “the […]
