Mitchells and Butler Retail, a major retail management group which manages chains such as All Bar One and O’Neills has been prosecuted by Newham Council and ordered to pay over £50,000 after a worker was crushed to death in a bowling machine.

Ferdinand de la Cruz, was cleaning a pinsetter machine that had not been fitted with protective guarding at a Hollywood Bowl outlet. A further investigation found that the machinery did not comply with safety standards in the UK or in Europe. The HSE has issued new guidance on pinsetters to the local authority enforcement teams since the accident and Mitchells and Butlers now use bowling machines that have guarding systems,  which prevent assess to dangerous parts of the bowling machinery.