Unsatisfactory food hygiene practices landed a Southend restaurant with £11,562.50 in fines and court costs – even after the premises had closed (Photo Gallery Below).

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At Southend Magistrates Court on Tuesday 8th November, the company Naz Two Ltd. which had operated Charlie Choy’s Restaurant in London Road, Southend, was fined £10,000 for two food hygiene offences and ordered to pay £1,562.50 costs.

On Monday 6th December 2010, Southend-on-Sea Borough Council’s Environmental Health Officers served the company with two official notices, warning that staff must be trained in food hygiene and that major improvements in food safety management were urgently needed.

Staff were not washing their hands properly, raw and ready-to-eat foods were stored together, dirty cloths were used to wipe food preparation surfaces, and high risk foods were left out at temperatures at which bacteria grow quickly.

Despite being given extra time to comply with these notices, the company still failed to make the necessary improvements.

A few months later, Charlie Choy’s voluntarily closed down but the hygiene offences were considered to be so serious that Naz Two Ltd. received a summons to appear at Southend Magistrates’ Court.

The Company did not attend the hearing and the maximum fine was made on both counts.

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council’s Executive Councillor for Public Protection, Waste and Transport, Councillor Tony Cox said: “We do not accept that restaurant operators who have seriously put health at risk should escape prosecution because their food business has closed.

“This restaurant had received and ignored a catalogue of advice about serious food safety issues.

“If restaurant owners fail to respond to the Council’s educative approach we will not hesitate to prosecute.”