‘Defects’ in staff procedures led to fatal fire at luxury Scottish hotel, inquiry concludes

Simon Midgley, 32, and his partner Richard Dyson, 38, died in a blaze at Cameron House Hotel on the banks of Loch Lomond in 2017.

The fire left two men dead (Les Gallagher/The Sun/PA) (PA Archive)

A “number of defects” in staff procedures contributed to a fire which killed two men at a luxury five-star hotel in Scotland, an inquiry has found.

Simon Midgley, 32, and his partner Richard Dyson, 38, from London, both lost their lives in the blaze at the historic Cameron House hotel on the banks of Loch Lomond in December 2017.

A senior judge tasked with reviewing what happened has now recommended that Holyrood change the law to ensure that sprinkler systems are fitted in all historic buildings converted into hotels.

Sheriff Thomas McCartney also ruled on Wednesday that all hotels should “have in place up-to-date and robust procedures” for disposing of hot ashes from open fires – which was established as the main cause of the Cameron House inferno, which raged for more than 24 hours.

Hotel operator Cameron House Resort (Loch Lomond) Ltd has already been fined £500,000 following the incident, with night porter Christopher O’Malley given a community payback order for his role in the fire.

But a fatal accident inquiry was launched last year to establish whether lessons could be learned from the incident.

The immediate cause of the fire at the converted baronial mansion was “the placing of hot ash within the concierge cupboard” at the hotel’s reception area.

In his 122-page ruling, Sheriff McCartney said that both men died as a result of the “inhalation of smoke and fire gases due to the hotel fire”.

Simon Midgley, right, and his partner, Richard Dyson, died in the blaze in December 2017 (Family handout/PA)

There “were a number of defects in systems of working which contributed to the accident”, he concluded.

These included: the careless disposal of ash, the lack of standard procedures for dealing with ash, the absence of appropriate equipment, metal bins in the service area being full and unable to hold any more ash, and combustible material being stored in the concierge cupboard, Sheriff McCartney said.

A “reasonable precaution” would have been for the hotel to have a “clear system of work for the safe cleaning and removal of ash from the open fires”, he said, and for “appropriate training” to be provided.

He also said that a delay in obtaining a guest list after the fire had resulted in a “delay in carrying out an accurate roll call” of people who had been in the building.

Sheriff McCartney went on to recommend that hotel operators in Scotland should “ensure that clear and robust arrangements are in place for promptly ensuring all persons are accounted for in the event of evacuation”.

Dumbarton Sheriff Court heard two years ago that the fire started after O’Malley emptied ash and embers from a fuel fire into a polythene bag, and then put it in a cupboard which contained kindling and newspapers.

The Cameron House hotel was severely damaged by the fire (Andrew Milligan/PA)

The hotel firm admitted failing to take the necessary fire safety measures to ensure the safety of its guests and employees between 14 January 2016 and 18 December 2017, and admitted two charges of breaching the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005.

O’Malley admitted breaching sections of health and safety laws which relate to the obligation of an employee to take reasonable care for the health and safety of people affected by their acts or omissions at work.

Since the hotel reopened in September 2021, there have been revised fire safety procedures in place and new fire safety measures including sprinklers and updated alarms.

Cameron House was first built in the mid-1700s and formed part of the Smollett estate for three centuries, over which period the landowners hosted guests including the last empress of France, Eugenie de Montijo, Princess Margaret, Lord Louis Mountbatten and Winston Churchill.

The modern stone castle was rebuilt after a fire in 1865.

Additional reporting by PA