Pub landlord fined for fire safety breaches

02/03/2010

A former pub landlord has been ordered to pay £16,015 in fines and costs after pleading guilty to breaches of fire safety legislation.

Bhupinder Singh Mann was found guilty of 16 contraventions of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 at Isleworth Court, on Friday 26 February.

It comes after an investigation into conditions at The Star, a pub that Mann ran in Hillingdon, London.

Safety officers from the London Fire Brigade found a number of fire safety failings on the premises, including no fire extinguishers, no emergency signage and no fire risk assessment.

Warnings were issued, but despite repeated visits in 2008 and 2009 and the issuing of an enforcement notice, Mann failed to comply with most of the requirements. Eventually fire officers served a prohibition notice in early 2009 to stop guests or staff using the upper floors of the pub because the risk was so serious. When this was again ignored, fire officers recommended that the owner of the premises, Punch Taverns, physically bar access to the upper floors.

Following the conviction, London Fire Brigade's assistant commissioner for fire safety regulation, Steve Turek, said:

"Ensuring you know about fire safety law is not an option - if you are the person responsible for a premises it is a necessity. If people do not adhere to the legislation, then as shown in this case, we can prosecute."

The manager of The Star was also found guilty of breaching the Fire Safety Order, and was ordered to pay £1,015 in fines and costs on 7 December.