Johnny Spice owner told to pay £5,000 after mouse droppings found in Wolverhampton restaurant
The owner of an Indian buffet restaurant in Wolverhampton has been stripped of his management title and ordered to pay more than £5,000 after health inspectors found mice and dirty conditions at the site.
Johnny Spice, in Queen Street, was visited by council health inspectors in July 2018, when they found mouse droppings in the kitchen.
Food safety officers gave Kobir Ahmed, owner of Johnny Spice and director of Johnny Banqueting Ltd, advice over hygiene but he ignored their suggestions.
He ended up in court and was sentenced on Thursday at Wolverhampton Crown Court after admitting four breaches of food safety and hygiene regulations.
Inspectors said he failed to have the right procedures in place to control pests, did not keep the restaurant clean, and did not protect food against contamination.
The food business has a food hygiene rating of one, which means it requires major improvement.
Ahmed was banned from managing a food business for two years, sentenced to 180 hours unpaid community work and ordered to pay costs of £5,332.
It comes less than a month after he was given a suspended prison sentence for fly-tipping within eyeshot of a council tip in the city.
Councillor Steve Evans, environment boss at Wolverhampton Council, said: “Poor food hygiene can cause terrible illnesses and this business owner has knowingly put its customers at risk.
"Our food safety officers spent a lot of time with Mr Ahmed only for him to ignore their advice and continue to breach food hygiene regulations.
“It would have been significantly cheaper for this food business to have listened to our officers and had proper pest control measures in place and I hope other businesses take note of the financial penalties involved in this case.
"I would like to thank our food safety team for bringing this case forward and for the work they do to protect the public."
He added: “I hope this sends out a strong message to food businesses that we take food hygiene very seriously in Wolverhampton and not complying with regulations will not be tolerated.”
Ahmed pleaded guilty to all four offences at an initial hearing on July 18 at Wolverhampton Magistrates’ Court.
At the same sitting on July 18, Ahmed received a four-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months, a one-month curfew for which he was tagged and monitored and a £950 fine for the fly-tipping offence.
