Abingdon landlord fined £20,000 for breaches of fire safety legislation

Roknor House, which is located in Bath Street, Abingdon housed a takeaway business on the ground floor and a hotel on the first and second floors. Fire safety inspectors from Oxfordshire County Council’s Fire and Rescue Service visited the premises in March 2021 following a tip-off.

During the inspection visit, several serious fire safety issues were identified. These included the fire alarm and emergency lighting systems not working, the lack of adequate fire-resistant structures between the ground floor takeaway and the sleeping accommodation above and no fire risk assessment in place.

The premises were considered so dangerous that inspectors issued an immediate Prohibition Notice preventing any sleeping in the property until such point that fire safety measures were improved.

Owner Chuhar Singh of White Way, Kidlington pleaded guilty to six breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 at a hearing conducted at Oxford Magistrates’ Court on 25 August.

Singh duly returned to Oxford Magistrates’ Court on 20 October for sentencing, at which point he was fined the substantial sum of £20,000 and also ordered to pay over £3,000 in costs.