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Fire Safety Fines
March 2010

The Fire Service are continuing to prosecute anybody found in contravention of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. The following two examples show what can happen if you fail to comply with a fire risk assessment:

Pub landlord fined over £16,000
Hotel company fined £21,000

Pub Landlord Fined Over £16,000

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.

Hotel Company Fined £21,000

A company that owned a London hotel has been ordered to pay more than £21,000 in fines and costs after pleading guilty to six offences under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

Malfax Investments Limited, which owned the Averard Hotel on Lancaster Gate in Bayswater, was sentenced this week at Westminster Magistrates Court.

The hotel was inspected by fire safety officers in April 2009, when they found a number of failings including inadequate fire detection and alarm system, problems with the external means of escape and inadequate and defective fire doors. As a result of these deficiencies, the officers issued an enforcement notice detailing the issues and when they needed to be resolved.

The company disclosed a fire risk assessment that was prepared in January 2008. Although it detailed a number of failings and advised steps they needed to take to address them, said London Fire Brigade, the company failed to act on the findings and implement any of the actions required. The hotel closed shortly after the enforcement noticed was issued.

“The general public should feel safe from fire when they are staying at a hotel and the responsible person must make sure their premises comply with the regulations,” said London Fire Brigade's assistant commissioner for fire safety regulation, Steve Turek.“All premises owners and operators must undertake a fire safety risk assessment. Although this was completed in this case, it is no use if the responsible person does not act on its findings.”

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