THE owner of a town curry house has been handed a £3,021 court bill for breaches of fire safety regulations.
Abdus Salam Mohammed Miah, 62, of Monmouth’s Misbah Tandoori Restaurant in Priory Street, was taken to court by South Wales Fire and Rescue Service after continually ignoring official requests for an update on fire safety provision at the premises, after an inspection last year found provision “inadequate”.
He admitted failing to supply the required information twice in April and once in May when the case came before Cwmbran magistrates last week.
The court fined him £999 with a £99 surcharge and ordered him to pay £1,923 in costs.
South Wales Fire and Rescue Service said he could have avoided being taken to court if he responded to their letters.
Service spokesperson St. John Towell, said: “Our role is to enforce fire safety legislation in premises that fall within the scope of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and ensure that these premises are safe.
“We do this by working with businesses across South Wales to support them to protect their business from risk.
“In this instance, we went out of our way to seek out basic information to enable us to follow legal protocols.
“The court viewed this matter to be so serious that they imposed the fine.
“As you can see in this case, the fines and costs received are solely attributed to the failure to provide information.”
Letters were “continually ignored” by Miah, the court heard.
An inspection in June 2021 found “inadequate fire safety provisions at the premises”, and the business was served with an enforcement notice for work to fix the problems.
“This is a clear message to members of the business community that they need to respond to formal requests made by fire and rescue services,” said Mr Towell.
For information about Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and its impact on businesses visit southwales-fire.gov.uk