In a screen grab from a video recorded by CityNews' Brendan O'Mahony, a massive crowd is seen trying to leave Union Station via a Bay Street exit on Dec. 17, 2018. CITYNEWS/Brendan O'Mahony
The City of Toronto has been fined after a court found Tuesday that it violated the Ontario Fire Code in an overcrowding incident at Union Station back in December 2018.
A CityNews exclusive showed thousands of people forced to stream through a single open door at the end of a Bay Street walkway exiting north, following a Mumford and Sons concert at Scotiabank Arena. The other doors were closed and blocked off by construction fences placed by Bondfield Construction as part of the Union Station Revitalization Project.
The company and the city were charged with failing to maintain a means of egress free of obstruction (section 2.7.1.7 [1]) under the Ontario Fire Code after three of five doors were blocked, the court heard on Jan. 7.
Bondfield pleaded guilty in November last year and was fined $5000. The city fought the charges, but was found guilty and fined $50,000 Tuesday.
Following the decision, they city’s Chief Communications Officer Brad Ross sent CityNews a statement, saying in part:
“The City of Toronto has received the decision of the Court related to charges laid under the Fire Protection and Prevention Act as a result of overcrowding at Union Station on the night of December 17, 2018. The City was found guilty of the charges today and fined $50,000 dollars, plus a 25 per cent victim surcharge. The City is reviewing the Court’s decision.”
Link to original article on toronto.citynews.ca: City fined $50K in Union Station overcrowding incident