Fire fighters have warned that a chicken shop owner’s prosecution for overlooking the fire safety of his business should be a warning to others.
No fire risk assessment had been undertaken on the bottom floor or the common parts of the upper floors. An inspection in January found that the prohibition notice had been breached.
Munawar Ahmed, owner of the Chicken Inn and Takeaway in South London, was given a 15-month suspended prison sentence. He has also been ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid community service.
Ahmed and his business have also been ordered by the judge to pay a fine of £17,000 and the fire brigade’s court costs of £22,752.
This news follows a recent case in which a former boss of a Hounslow restaurant lost his appeal against a £10,800 fine for eight breaches of fire safety regulations, workplacelaw.net reports.
London Fire Brigade’s assistant commissioner for fire safety regulation, Steve Turek, told croydonguardian.co.uk that this verdict should serve as a grave warning to landlords and business owners. They must recognise their responsibility under fire safety laws to ensure that people living and working in their premises are safe from the risk of fire.
Mr Turek said: “If we find people are ignoring these responsibilities we won’t hesitate to prosecute and the sentence handed down in this case shows that the courts take these matters just as seriously as we do.”