A WORKER could have been killed when she plunged nearly seven feet through a trapdoor in a city centre shop, a court heard.

Loretta Finch could not see the hole before her feet as she walked towards the window display of Cornish Pasty Bakery in Colliergate, York, said Steve Adamthwaite, prosecuting.

She hit her head three times and broke her foot in the fall into the shop's cellar.

The court heard she was on day release from Askham Grange Women's Prison at the time and was working in the shop as part of her rehabilitation.

The shop's joint owners, Fiona and Richard Parkinson, who live in the Canary Islands, now face a joint fine and court costs bill of £6,729.40.

"We feel there was a considerable potential for harm," said bench chairman John Coulson.

"Miss Finch could easily have been killed in this incident and you are very fortunate that she was not."

Richard Parkinson, 43, and his 42-year-old wife, both of Las Fuentas, Corralejo, Fuerteventura, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, pleaded guilty to two breaches each of health and safety regulations, and were fined £6,000 with £729.40 prosecution costs.

Mr Adamthwaite, a principal environmental health officer with City of York Council, which brought the prosecution, told the court: "This accident was an accident waiting to happen."

The trapdoor lay on the main route used by staff between the kitchen and the window display, though it was not in the public area.

Tony Bennett, another member of staff, was in the cellar and had left its trapdoor open on November 7, 2004.

Miss Finch's tray was so large she could not see her feet and there was no barrier round the trapdoor, so she plunged through it. The cellar floor was 2.1 metres or six feet and ten inches below.

A council official later saw an inadequate warning sign at the trapdoor telling staff not to leave it open. The council served improvements notices, making the business put a barrier round it.

For the Parkinsons, Nicola Goodchild said that since the accident, they had forbidden all employees to use the cellar and had permanently screwed down the trapdoor. They took their staff's safety seriously and knew all of their 12 full-time and 12 part-time employees.

The accident had been a great shock to them and was the first time someone had been injured seriously in their shop. They had used the cellar for recycling paper, a project for which they had won an award.

The Parkinsons have run the Cornish Pasty Bakery for seven years and operate it as a partnership.

Ms Finch, 29, from Preston, said she was seeking compensation from the Parkinsons, adding the injuries she suffered to her left foot, knees and back in the accident had put her life "on hold".

She said: "I got on fantastically with everyone who worked there, but as time has gone on it has changed me. I was going to carry on working there.

"Now I feel angry that I was not warned verbally and I feel extremely sad because it has changed my life enormously.

"As a 29-year-old I can't wear high heels and I can't go out dancing. I wish somebody had just said to me 'Do not go down there'."

Updated: 09:16 Saturday, January 07, 2006