Fire service prosecutes restaurant owner
Warwickshire County Council’s Fire and Rescue Service were forced to take out a prosecution against the owner of a local licensed restaurant in Rugby for failing to allow an inspection of their premises to take place, to confirm adequate fire safety standards were being met.
Monjour Choudhery, owner of the Masala Lounge Restaurant in Rugby pleaded guilty to obstruction and failure to allow an officer to inspect the premises and fire safety records for his business on Wednesday 7th January 2009. In total Mr Choudbury was find £1,000 plus £133 costs.
Head of Warwickshire’s Fire Protection Services, Richard Buxton, stated that:
“Although we endeavour to give business owners all the support they need to comply with the law, there are occasions where owners refuse to co-operate with the inspector.
Fire Safety is very important and we are duty bound to ensure businesses are safe for both the employees who work there and the general public.
“To this end, if we are prevented from carrying out our inspection duties we will take appropriate enforcement action.”
All businesses must carry out a fire risk assessment of their premises to ensure they have appropriate fire safety standards and that a suitable and sufficient testing and maintenance policy is in place.
Guidance on how local businesses can comply with fire safety law can be purchased from any good book store or downloaded free from the Communities and Local Government website at
http://www.communities.gov.uk/fire/firesafety/firesafetylaw