Fine for City Restaurant
At Basingstoke Magistrates Court on Monday (10 November) Cellar Peking Limited, owners of Cellar Peking, Jewry Street, Winchester, pleaded guilty to 14 food safety and two health and safety offences and received fines totalling £9,800 plus costs.
Mr Harish Desai, (aka Patel), Director of Cellar Peking Limited, pleaded guilty to 13 food safety offences and two health and safety offences and received fines totalling £9,400 plus costs.
The prosecution by Winchester City Council follows a previous successful prosecution of another City restaurant earlier in the year.
The court heard that in March 2003 the premises received a routine inspection by an environmental health officer. Conditions were found to be unsatisfactory, despite the owners of the premises having received previous written warnings and advice about breaches of legislation. The officer found poor standards of cleanliness, disrepair that prevented adequate cleaning, and risks of fire and electrical shock.
Speaking after the case, Councillor James Wagner, the City Council’s Portfolio Holder for Health, said:
"This case demonstrates the importance that the City Council places on the inspection of food premises, particularly those where the food hygiene risks are at their greatest.
"The public has every right to expect high standards of hygiene where they eat and employees must be able to work in a safe environment. Our staff will continue to work with businesses to advise them of the steps that need to be taken, but if companies have disregard for the law, then they will end up answering to the Courts.
"I hope this prosecution will reassure the public that where standards are not maintained we are quite prepared to take enforcement action in order to secure compliance."