
A Lancaster food business has been handed a £20,000 fine for health and safety failures.
Council officers visited Burgshake Restaurants and found a failure to guard access to dangerous machinery and also found the company were allowing foul water to run down a path to residents’ homes.
They found a protective guard missing from the rotating blade of an extraction fan – which posed an injury risk. They issued a Prohibition Notice to stop the fan being used, as well as an improvement notice requiring it to be made safe.
They also ordered that the drainage onto an access path, regularly used by students to reach their accommodation, be rectified to protect the health of the public.
After the St Leonardsgate business failed to comply, the case was taken to Lancaster Magistrates Court, when the business pleaded guilty to one health and safety offence, one food safety and hygiene offence, and two counts of failing to comply with improvement notices.
The court ordered the company to pay a £20,000 fine, plus pay costs of £2,723.44 and a victim surcharge of £2,000.
A spokesperson for Lancaster City Council said: ‘’Public safety is non-negotiable and our environmental health teams are out and about every day checking that business adhere to food and health and safety regulations.’’