More than 3,000 people have signed a petition calling for the Barrow-in-Furness BC chief executive, Tom Campbell, to resign. The petition has been organised by relatives of victims of the Legionnaire's disease outbreak in 2002 at a council-run arts centre. The petition also calls for a permanent memorial to the tragedy and for a formal apology from the council to the victims and their families. The petition was due to be presented by Cllr Jim Hamezeian at a council meeting on Tuesday evening, after The MJ went to press. Mr Campbell declined to comment to The MJ, but told the North West Evening Mail that he hoped the petition would ‘give a sense of closure to the bereaved families'. The outbreak was the worst of its kind in the country, infecting more than 170 people. Last year, the council's head of design services, Gillian Beckingham, was acquitted of seven counts of manslaughter but convicted of a breach of health and safety law. Mr Justice Stanley Burnton said he would have fined Barrow more than £1m if it had been a private company, and instead, fined the authority £125,000 after it admitted breaching health and safety laws, and ordered it to pay £90,000 costs. A report from the Health and Safety Executive in April said a catalogue of errors had been made. Cllr Hamezeian said: ‘The council has been found guilty of neglect for the health and safety of its citizens. It is our duty to say sorry to the victims' families and, in my opinion, it's a legitimate demand for a memorial plaque.'
