Takeaway boss put the life of lodger at risk by flouting fire safety rules

COURT HEARS HE SHOWED 'WILFUL BLINDNESS' TO THE REGULATIONS

- By MARTIN NAYLOR

A PIZZA takeaway owner put the life of a worker at risk by having little or no fire safety precautions in the flat above his shop where the man lived.

Nottingham Crown Court was told how when the fire service visited the business they found combustible materials blocking any means of escape should a blaze have broken out.

There were also no fire alarms and no emergency lighting on the stairwell which would have helped the worker escape should there have been. When the business owner, Ahmet Mulk, was questioned, he said a number of other takeaways operated in the same way showing what the prosecution called “a wilful blindness” in terms of his attitude towards safety.

Now he faces an anxious wait to find out his fate after his case was adjourned until June 2.

Judge Robert Egbuna 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.