The Capital Radio group is being prosecuted by the health and safety executive after a competition on its Birmingham station BRMB allegedly hospitalised three people for more than two months. The charges follow a competition in August 2001 when the station got listeners to compete for tickets for the Birmingham Party In The Park by seeing who could sit for longest on a lump of ‘dry ice’ (solid carbon dioxide) at minus 78 degrees. Apparently four contestants were hospitalised, three of them needing ten weeks of treatment. The station will be prosecuted under the Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974 which requires employers to ensure people not in their employment, but who may be affected by their activities, are not exposed to risks. They risk a fine of £20,000 when they go to court later this month.
It’s not the first time the Birmingham station, who are making no comment on the charges, have hit the headlines over one of their on air stunts. In 1999 they courted controversy when they married two complete strangers as part of a phone in competition.