Fire safety conviction for restaurant after arson attack
A restaurant owner and one of his employees have had to pay a total of more than £20,000 after pleading guilty to numerous fire safety offences.
Kamruz Zaman, of the Red Ginger restaurant in Bushey, Hertfordshire, pleaded guilty to seven offences and employee Adiel Choudhury pleaded guilty to eight offences under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 at Stevenage magistrates court on 1 December.
Mr Zaman was fined £5,750 and Mr Choudhury £6,000 for the offences, and together with costs of £9,161 and victim surcharges, had to pay a total of £20,941.
The fire was started deliberately on the ground floor in the early hours of Friday 9 July 2010. An employee of the restaurant sleeping on the first floor was woken by the smell of smoke which had engulfed the premises, according to Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service.
Among the offences Mr Choudhury pleaded guilty to were failing to carry out a fire risk assessment, and failure to provide emergency lighting for escape routes. Both defendants pleaded guilty to failing to provide appropriate firefighting equipment and detection and alarm systems, failure to appoint one or more competent persons, and a failure to provide safe emergency routes and exits.