Gloucester restaurant owner fined £3,000 for fire safety breaches
The owner of a restaurant in Gloucester has been fined more than £3,000 after he pleaded guilty to ten fire safety breaches.
The problems at the Connoisseur Tandoori Restaurant were uncovered after there was a fire at the premises in November 2009 and an investigation was launched into the cause of the incident. Inspectors visiting the property found that:
- Staff were using the top floors as sleeping accommodation without authorisation
- There were no fire alarms or smoke detectors in the accommodation
- Emergency lighting was not fitted in the escape route for the sleeping accommodation
- A number of doors between key restaurant areas and their escape routes were not sufficiently fire resistant
- A kitchen was located within an escape route on the second floor
- Employees had not been given proper fire safety training
- No risk assessment had been carried out
Commenting on the many breaches found at the restaurant, Richard Smith from Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service said:
“If a fire risk assessment had been carried out, it would have identified the measures required to make the premises safe such as a fire alarm, emergency lighting, fire doors and staff training.”
For breaching the Fire Safety Order (2005), the owner of the restaurant was fined £1,900 and ordered to pay court costs of £1,500.