1 minute read
Health and Safety
by 55 North
RETAIL CRIME
West Midlands store prosecuted for pest infestation and dangerous shelving
Council takes action after a number of enforcement notices are ignored.
Sandwell Council’s Environmental Health Team has prosecuted a local supermarket for pest infestation and dangerous shelving after repeated non-compliance with enforcement notices served under Food Hygiene and Health & Safety legislation.
Warley Supermarket (UK) company director Mandeep Kaur Mandair and Senior Manager Raminder Mandair had pleaded guilty to offences under the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013 and the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974. Senior Manager Sukhbir Mandair pleaded not guilty to offences under the Food Safety Hygiene Regulations and was convicted of all offences after trial.
The company was ordered to pay £60,000 for food safety offences and £480,000 for Health & Safety offences, plus costs of £16,191.20, at Wolverhampton Crown Court.
Mandeep Kaur Mandair received eight months’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months. She was ordered to carry out 150 hours unpaid work and to pay costs of £16,191.20 at the rate of £1,500 per month. She was also ordered to pay a Victim Surcharge.
Raminder Mandair received 16 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years. He was also given a six-month electronic curfew between 8pm and 6am and was ordered to pay costs of £16,191.20, payable at the rate of £1,500 per month. He was also ordered to pay a Victim Surcharge.
The sentencing of Sukhbir Mandair was adjourned and a new date will be set for him to be sentenced.
Councillor Bob Piper, Sandwell Council’s Cabinet Member for Community Safety, said: “In Sandwell we value our local businesses and want them to continue to deliver high quality services and facilities. But shoppers and workers in Sandwell have the right to go about their daily business, feeling safe and protected. The work of Sandwell’s Environmental Health Team in bringing cases, like this one against Warley Supermarkets (UK), helps keep us all safe and I would commend their efforts to protect us all.”
