A PONTYPOOL company which was fined for breaching fire safety laws in court this week has criticised comments made by emergency services after the case.

Brick Fabrication were hit by the bill after pleading guilty to eight charges at Cwmbran Magistrates' Court on Monday.

As the Argus reported yesterday, it followed an investigation by South Wales Fire and Rescue Service (SWFRS) after a blaze in 2014 exposed several faults with the firm's fire safety policies.

The firm was fined £22,350 for the offences, and ordered to pay £8,653.78 to the fire authority, along with a £120 victim surcharge.

Despite the outcome, the managing director of Brick Fabrication, Nigel Watkins, has claimed that SWFRS were complimentary of the firm's prompt undertaking of remedial action.

"They stated that the company did co-operate throughout the investigation, that there was a good standard of housekeeping observed," Mr Watkins said.

"They also said that the culture was more safety focused."

But following the hearing, the head of business fire safety at SWFRS, Steve Rossiter, blasted the "total disregard" for critical fire safety provisions at the site.

"When employees have to run under smoke and flames to escape from a building there is something seriously wrong," Mr Rossiter added.

The comments have been deemed as unfair by Mr Walters, who said: "We feel that Mr Rossiter's comments were quite damning.

"It seems like they were really going for the jugular."

During the hearing, the court was reportedly shown an independent Health and Safety report from November 2015.

Mr Watkins claimed that the report said that the efforts of the "medium-sized" Brick Fabrication rivalled that of "large multi-national corporations leading in their field."

Mr Watkins also said that the firm has managed to retain all 52 employees at the company since the fire.

He said: "We are thankful that no-one was hurt, however the fire had a devastating effect on the business.

"I have to pay tribute to the workforce for keeping the business going throughout this very difficult time. We have all been determined to make sure this can never happen again.”

Magistrates reduced the fine following the guilty pleas.