THREE firms in Hampshire have been fined tens of thousands of pounds between them for flagrant breaches of the law.

In the worst incident a worker shattered his kneecap after falling up to four metres from a ladder.

Another business was rapped for operating a scrapyard without a licence and a third was taken to task for failing to comply with stringent recycling rules.

SIG Trading, an office furniture manufacturer trading as Screenbase and Komfort Office Environments from its factory in Andover, was fined £20,000 at Andover Magistrates' Court for breaches of health and safety legislation.

The prosecution followed a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation into an incident in which an employee, Brian Eng-land, fell from a ladder while dismantling storage racking with colleagues.

Mr England, employed by the company as a delivery driver, was removing a top cross beam when he fell, landing on the concrete floor and shattering his kneecap.

The HSE said he won't recover full use of the knee, and he hasn't worked since the incident last August.

Julian Moss, an HSE inspector, said no risk assessment had been carried out and no instruction or training was given to staff who lacked any experience of working at height, nor was there supervision of the work.

Costs of £2,259 were also imposed on the firm, which pleaded guilty.

Meanwhile, the Environment Agency has successfully prosecuted Margaret Collins of W Collins & Sons for operating a scrapyard at Burridge, near Southampton, without a waste management licence.

Mrs Collins, appearing at Fareham Magistrates' Court, was ordered to pay a £10,000 fine and £1,134 costs.

The agency also prosecuted a lighting company based in Eastleigh for not complying with its recycling obligations three years ago.

Wirefield appeared before Southampton magistrates and admitted three charges of failing to comply with packaging waste obligations.

It was fined £1,500.