HEALTH and safety experts are to take NO action over last year's ceiling collapse at a York pub - because it was probably caused by poor quality of workmanship three months earlier.

Drinkers fled for cover when a section of suspended ceiling collapsed in the family area of the newly-opened Postern Gate in Piccadilly last June.

Up to eight customers were treated at the scene and another two were taken to York Hospital with minor injuries, and a senior fire officer said customers were fortunate to escape serious injury.

The incident was initially investigated by City of York Council, which obtained reports from structural engineers, but was then passed on to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after the local authority concluded pub operators J D Wetherspoons were not in any way to blame.

The HSE says now that the collapse appears to have been caused by a "failure at the interface between the fixings and the structure".

It said this suggested that the likely cause of the incident was the quality of workmanship.

But while there were clearly health and safety implications in this, it said legislation enforced by the HSE "does not extend to quality of workmanship that may be only identifiable weeks, months or years following the completion of the work".

It also said that legislation enforced by the HSE should not be used where there was other primary legislation concerning the safety of building structures. Such legislation is understood to be the responsibility of the local authority. Because it would be impracticable to conduct further inquiries, it concluded it could take no further action.

The decision has been criticised by customers who were in the pub the night the ceiling fell in.

"They are just passing the buck," said one, Donna Godson. "It could have been a lot worse than it was. I would like to think somebody took the blame and steps were taken so it couldn't happen again."

Dawn Webster, York council's acting food and safety unit manager, said the council concluded that the most likely cause of the collapse was an overloading of fixings when the ceiling was constructed, some three months earlier.

Updated: 10:32 Thursday, March 13, 2003