Horsham takeaway owner fined in court: this is why

At Crawley Magistrates Court on Thursday, Feng Jiang Chui, 53, of Spencer Road, Horsham, pleaded guilty to seven breaches of the Fire Regulation Order 2005 relating to a take-away business he operated, West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said.

The fire service's fire safety enforcement officers discovered numerous breaches of the Order at Mandarin House in November 2019.

Officers found he had no working fire alarm system and inadequate means of escape from the sleeping accommodation on the first floor of the property. They also found a failure to take general fire precautions, with unsafe and dangerous overloading of the electrical system evident.

Due to the severity of the breaches, they imposed a prohibition notice preventing use of the premises until the breaches were satisfactorily rectified. He was fined £1,080, ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £108 and prosecution costs of £1801.

Andy Parsons, WSFRS’s Fire Safety Enforcement Manager, said: “We are fully committed to keeping the communities of West Sussex safe. Inadequate fire safety measures in properties, be that businesses or HMOs are simply not acceptable. We expect landlords to put the safety of their tenants first.

“We will continue to work towards ensuring that both businesses and landlords keep their properties in good condition and adhere to fire safety regulations.

“Evidence of failing the public and residents’ safety in this way will lead to prosecutions.”