Restaurant closed after EHO find ongoing Rat infestation

Reading the press today I saw that another restaurant (thankfully not in Tyne and Wear) has been fined for ignoring a long standing rat infestation. He even received advice from a pest controller two weeks prior to the incident and did nothing about it.

The owner of the Omar Khan restaurant Javed Iqbal was told by his staff that several rats had been seen to be living in the cellar of his restaurant.

The owner of a Bradford restaurant was fined £15,000 after a Court heard he ignored a “long-standing” rat infestation in a cellar over 8 weeks prior to the EHO inspection.

Mr Iqbal had called in a pest controller and asked him to point out the areas of ingress, he then failed to follow the pest controllers advice and did nothing about it. When the EHO visited for a spot check they saw rats in the cellar surrounded by droppings. The rats had been living there for some time and had gnawed food stuff that were stored down in the cellar.

Mr Iqbal admitted 6 breaches of the hygiene act including failure to stop rodents entering his premises and failing to keep food safe from contamination. He told the court that he had employed the pest controllers services and the infestation was cleared. He went on to tell the court he had disinfected the premises and

The court ordered Mr Iqbal to pay a fine of £2500 for each of the six offences and to pay £1835 in costs to the court.

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If only Mr Iqbal had followed the pest controllers advice and proofed his building against rodent incursions. He would of been £15000 better off and his business would not of been dragged through the mud.