Gateshead school handed £30k fine for taking pupils on Cumbrian hike

A Tyneside school has received a hefty fine for a field trip in Cumbria which ended in a mountain rescue.

The pupils from Gateshead Cheder were taken up Helvellyn by school staff in the Lake District in March 2020 in snowy conditions.

Newcastle Magistrates Court heard how the group of 13 - with some wearing school shoes and trainers - were found by a rescue team in darkness after one boy had slipped on ice and another had been separated.

The school on Sunderland Road admitted health and safety breaches and was fined £30,000 after being prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive.