Punch Taverns hit with £27K bill over 'serious' fire safety failures
Punch Taverns has been hit with a bill of more than £27,000 after "serious" breaches of fire safety laws at one of its former London pubs.
The company was ordered to pay a fine of £8,500, and the rest in costs, after pleading guilty to seven contraventions of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 at leasehold pub, the Milestone, in Mile End, East London. The total bill was £27,481.
The ruling came at Thames Magistrates court yesterday.
The case dates back to July 2008, when fire officers found "a number of fire safety failings" in the pub and the first floor.
The London Fire Brigade said the pub was being used as a "house of multiple occupation", including "inadequate maintenance of the fire alarm and emergency lighting".
An enforcement notice was issued and time was given for them to comply, the fire brigade said.
Officers returned on the November 14, 2008, and found a number of faults still hadn't been fixed.
Steve Turek, assistant commissioner for fire safety regulation, said: "London Fire Brigade will continue to take action when businesses, large or small, do not take their fire safety responsibilities seriously.
"Failure to comply with the law can, as this case has shown, result in a prosecution."
In response, a Punch Taverns spokeswoman said: "Punch Taverns has an excellent safety record across its estate and remains committed to ensuring that all of our pub businesses are safe and fully compliant.
"Punch Taverns were only fined a total of £8,500 for these offences which arose in 2008 and the judge commented on Punch's excellent safety record and highlighted that the company's current compliance systems are 'impressive'.
"It is regrettable on this occasion that the fire safety works, which our partner had previously agreed to undertake but failed to deliver, meant that the works which were already in progress, missed the deadline for completion of works by just two days."
Punch also confirmed that it no longer owns the pub.
