£125,000 fine for safety blunder hotel
A hotel in Wilmslow has been fined more than £125,000 after a routine visit by fire officers discovered a catalogue of serious fire safety breaches.
The Belfry was closed immediately over fears for the safety of staff and guests. It was found that the hotel had faulty fire alarms, substandard fire exits and staff had not been trained sufficiently to deal with fires.
The hotel claims that after buying the hotel in 2007 they had inherited a ‘legacy’ of problems but told the court that the safety issues were “not a question of corner-cutting”.
Within days of the April 2008 inspection the hotel had installed all of the fire safety equipment needed and was permitted to reopen. There have been no further incidents.
The hotel was fined £25,000 for each of the offences, and £52,000 in costs. Judge Elgin said “With a certain cavalier disregard, it appears the company carried on trading and taking guests when quite clearly these guests were put at substantial risk.”
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