Takeaway owner must pay £27k for breaking fire rules

COURT HEARS HE PUT LIFE OF LODGER AT RISK WITH BREACHES

- By MARTIN NAYLOR

A PIZZA takeaway owner who put the life of a worker living above the shop at risk must pay thousands of pounds.

In a prosecution brought by Nottinghamshire Fire Authority, Nottingham Crown Court heard that fire officers who visited the business found no fire alarms and no emergency lighting on the stairwell which would have helped the worker escape if it caught fire.

They also discovered combustible materials blocking escape from the Worksop premises.

When business owner Ahmet Mulk, 48, was questioned, he said a number of other takeaways operated in the same way showing what the prosecution called "a wilful blindness" towards safety.

Judge Robert Egbuna fined him £20,000 and ordered him to pay £5,000 costs and a £2,000 court surcharge, to be paid in monthly installments of £800.

He said: "Even by (your) own admission you said there had never been a fire risk assessment. You have to have the lights and escape routes clearly signed and [had there been a fire, he] could not have got out of the building.