Hotel Breaches Fire Safety Order -Hit with £67k Fine
Hotel Fined £67k for Insufficient Fire Risk Assessment & Deficient Fire Doors.
The owner of a Chester hotel has been ordered to pay a total of £67,000 for Fire Safety Order Breaches.
Ashok Ummat, director of Mollington Banastre Hotel & Spa, appeared in Chester Crown Court on Thursday, November 16 2023, charged with three counts of serious breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO).
Warren Spencer, prosecuting, told the court that Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service inspecting officers found serious deficiencies and breaches of the Fire Safety Order during the initial audit inspection on June 28 2018.
These deficiencies included:
- inadequate means of escape from the first and second floors
- inadequate fire-resistant ‘compartmentation’ to prevent the spread of smoke and fire
- poor electrical maintenance
- insufficient fire risk assessment
- no record of an emergency plan
- insufficient emergency lighting on the external means of escape from the first floor
- deficient fire doors
- insufficient records for fire alarm maintenance.
An action plan was agreed between the inspecting officers and Ashok Ummat on July 24 2018 with a completion date of April 1 2019 ultimately agreed to rectify the deficiencies.
After further inspection on April 2 2019, inspecting officers served Mr Ummat with a prohibition notice under Article 31 of the FSO, prohibiting the use of several rooms for hotel accommodation. An enforcement notice was then issued on April 5 2019, issuing a schedule of works to make the affected rooms safe before allowing people to stay.
Area Manager Steve McCormick, Head of Prevention and Protection at Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “Fire safety is an essential part of good business management, and Mr Ummat showed little regard for the safety of the guests at the Mollington Banastre Hotel & Spa. This was apparent because he failed to follow our advice and the agreed action plan to make the premises safer.
“We always aim to help and support any business to operate safely, however, this case shows that we will take action when fire safety responsibilities are not taken seriously.”
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