A SCRAP-YARD worker was engulfed in flames after a spark from cutting equipment ignited a fuel spill.

Thomas Cooper, 59, suffered severe burns to the backs of his legs, hands and arms, covering 17% of his body.

Phoenix Autoparts 2000 Ltd has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive for breaching regulations which led to the incident.

A district judge sitting at Nottingham Magistrates Court found the company to be negligent in not identifying the potential risk or carrying out a sufficient assessment.

District Judge Morris Cooper said: "I do accept that the company simply failed to see what was in fact a fairly serious and fairly obvious risk. I believe it to be serious negligence because it was a failure to recognise an ongoing and serious risk."

Thomas Cooper was admitted to hospital for five weeks following the accident, and had to have two skin grafts. He was not been able to work since the accident more than two years ago.

He had worked in his job dismantling vehicles at the site for 20 years before the accident on August 25 2006.

It has been operated by Phoenix Autoparts since only the year 2000, which makes money by cutting up written-off cars for scrap. Before this can be done, fuel is extracted from the vehicles.

On the day of the accident, Mr Cooper was showing a less experienced employee how to cut up a car using a oxyacetylene torch. While this happened, another less experienced employee was extracting fuel from another vehicle using a 'retriever unit'.

Mr Cooper noticed that a puddle of petrol had formed under the retriever unit, and went to stop the leak, walking through the puddle as he did so.

It is thought that a spark from his colleague's torch ignited the spill. Mr Cooper received the burns to his hands and arms as he tried to rip his trousers off. He then ran to a nearby tap to put out the flames.

The company pleaded guilty to both breaches.

Judge Cooper fined the company £2,000 for the two breaches, plus £2,374.96 in legal costs.

He said the fine would have been higher were it not for the "dire" financial state of the company at the present time.

Legal guidelines stipulate that a fine must not put a company out of business.

Judge Cooper said: "There was a serious injury resulting from these breaches. A serious injury caused to a 59-year-old long-serving employee of the company.

"The second aggravating feature is that there was more than one person at risk."

Frances Bailey, the Health and Safety Executive inspector who prosecuted Phoenix Autoparts Ltd 2000 said: "This accident could have been prevented if they cutting operation had been separated from the handling of petrol.

"I hope this case will send out a clear message to any company handling flammable materials."