Asda Stores Limited was ordered to pay over £55,000 after admitting fire safety breaches in their Chippenham store, near Slough.
Fire exit doors were chained and locked shut in an inspection made by Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service officers in June 2010.
The inspection also revealed escape routes that were obstructed, fire exit doors wedged open and combustible items obstructing fire doors.
The inspection was carried out following a complaint and Asda pleaded guilty to two charges brought under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
Asda were sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Wednesday and given a fine of £20,000 for each offence, and ordered to pay over £15,000 costs, resulting in a total of £55,647.
David Walden, RBFA’s fire safety legal support manager, said: “This was a clear case of a major retailing company failing to comply with fire safety regulations and, by doing so, placing people at serious risk. It also provides further evidence that some businesses continue to treat compliance with fire safety legislation as an option – it is not.
“Staff and customers are entitled to feel safe when working at or visiting a supermarket or any other business. We will continue with our efforts to ensure that any business owner or manager who refuses to take these obligations seriously will be brought before the Courts.”
In mitigation Asda’s defence said that the company treat fire safety regulations very seriously and explained the company’s policies and procedures in place to support this.
In a statement to the BBC, the company said that the court had recognised the supermarket’s good safety record in its 544 stores.
The statement continued, "Two years ago a junior manager at the Slough store did not follow the same rules that thousands of other Asda workers follow up and down the country each day.
"This individual no longer works at the store or for Asda.”
Judge Grainger, summing up, acknowledged Asda’s guilty plea and the mitigation but stated that the breaches were very serious and that evidence suggested the practice of locking the two fire exit doors had been in place prior to the inspection in June 2010.
