A South Yorkshire supermarket owner who repeatedly ignored warnings to comply with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (RRO) 2005 was fined GB pound 1,300 and told to pay GB pound 1,800 in costs by Sheffield magistrates. Nabil Tariq, owner of Crest Supermarket in Barnsley, failed to maintain fire alarms and extinguishers, fire escape doors were damaged, and he did not provide staff with fire safety training.
In Bristol, the owner of an Indian takeaway was fined GB pound 400 with GB pound 2,680 in costs for failing to supply information to Avon Fire & Rescue Service under the RRO. Abdul Wahid admitted two breaches at North Somerset Magistrates Court after he did not respond to the Fire Service’s requests to discuss possible fire safety breaches, leaving the Service no option but to take him to court.
In South Wales, a business owner was fined GB pound 1,000 per offence for a string of 8 breaches of the RRO. Jaipal Singh Soor, as the person responsible for fire safety at a premises in Newport, was also ordered to pay GB pound 4,900 in full costs. Cwmbran magistrates heard that:
A padlocked fire exit led to a fine of GB pound 6,880 plus GB pound 3,911 in costs for the licensee and managers of a Sunderland hostel. Sunderland magistrates heard that after fire crews had been called to extinguish a fire in one of the bedrooms of the 37-bed Norfolk Hotel, they discovered the nearest fire exit was padlocked shut with a heavy duty bike lock, so preventing occupants from evacuating the building. The night porter of the hostel was initially unable to find the key, and when he did, it broke off in the lock, so that fire crews had to cut off the padlock. Tyne and Wear fire crews also found:
In a prosecution brought by Bath Council, the landlords of three properties were heavily fined for disregarding their tenants’ safety. The managers and leaseholders of takeaways Royal Dragon, Cinnamon and Oriental Express, which were also illegal HMOs, were fined GB pound 15,000 between them plus GB pound 1,500 in costs, after council officers found dangerous electrics, poor or no fire precautions, and, in one case, no separation between the takeaway and the shared housing.
Blackpool landlord Graham Sawings was fined GB pound 36,300 and told to pay GB pound 7,000 in costs after pleading guilty to 10 breaches of the RRO. Preston Crown Court was told that a blaze broke out in a flat in his Morecambe property after a person fell asleep while cooking. At least four people were in the property at the time, including two children. One person was taken to hospital for the effects of smoke inhalation.
In other landlord fire safety prosecutions, a Slough landlord had to pay over GB pound 40,000 in fines and costs for putting his tenants at risk by having no fire risk assessment and a fire alarm system from which smoke detectors had been removed and which had no calling points.
A landlord in Derby took seven months to respond to tenants’ fears about fire safety,
while in Manchester Liaqat Malik was ordered to pay over GB pound 18,000 in fines and costs for a plethora of fire safety offences in a HMO, including no fire alarm and a locked exit door.
Meanwhile, a new GB pound 3m fund has been created to help councils tackle irresponsible landlords whose tenants live in unsafe and overcrowded conditions where there is often a high risk of fire. Hopefully this may go some way towards reducing the need for these all-too-frequent prosecutions of landlords.
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Prosecutions are needed and they would certainly bring positive changes in overall safety environment. In the last couple of years we have very negligent behaviour by most buidling owners. It is very natural that till the time there is no accountability people tend to show slackness on safety features. These round up would surely create deterrent effect.
in Canada we have similar problems with rooming houses… landlords should take responsibility for fire safety…
Landlords are reluctant to spend and (reputable Managing agents) are as reluctant (loss of income) demanding compliance measures are not met.
Regardless to the threat of Prosecution to both parties !!!!!
However the recent spike in prosecutions we would like to think would help to drive the message of responsibility home !!!
We Shall see