The previous landlord of the Old Albion Inn at Crantock has been prosecuted for 10 food hygiene offences and banned from participating in the management of any food business.
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46 year old James Hardy of Carloggas Grove, St Columb Major, who until July 2011 ran the public house (which now has a new landlord), pleaded guilty to 10 offences under the Food Hygiene (England) Regulations 2006 at Truro Magistrates Court on Friday 24 February. He was fined £1000 and ordered to pay the councils costs of £3000
Action was taken after food and safety officers Natasha Jenkins and Stephen Boyle from the Council’s Public Health and Protection Service routinely inspected the premises in May 2011 and discovered filthy conditions in the food areas. Inadequate cleaning and structural maintenance had been raised with Mr Hardy on several occasions but he had failed to make improvements. Following the visit, Mr Hardy immediately closed the pub to carry out urgent cleaning of the kitchen before re-commencing the food trade. Photographs were taken and mouldy equipment was seized as evidence.
Although a re-visit to the premises 3 days later revealed that the cleaning had been carried out to the minimum acceptable level, thorough cleaning, structural repairs, training of food handlers, installation of hot water to the wash hand basin in the staff toilets and the implementation of a documented food safety management system were still not in place and the officer served a number of hygiene improvement notices. Three of these were not complied with.
Mr Hardy was summonsed to appear before Truro Magistrates Court on 14 February but failed to appear. Mr Hardy was arrested later in the week, held in custody overnight and appeared before Bodmin Magistrates the next morning. The bench then adjourned the case back to Truro and gave Mr Hardy unconditional bail until the scheduled hearing but warned that failure to attend again could lead to a six month custodial sentence as well as penalties for the food hygiene offences.
An application was then made to the court for an order that will prohibit Mr Hardy from participating in the management of any food business. This will remain in force for a minimum of two years and then he must demonstrate that he has received the correct training needed to satisfy the court that the health of the public will not be put at risk again.
Lance Kennedy, Cornwall Council’s portfolio holder for Community Safety and Protection said “The sentence and prohibition order imposed by the magistrates reflect the seriousness of this case. We do try to work with businesses, but if they do not take the appropriate steps to protect the safety of their customers and ignore our advice, we will not hesitate to take formal action through the courts.”
Commercial Food and Safety Manager Carol Thorogood said: “Free training, advice and resources such as documented food safety management systems are made available to food businesses within Cornwall and our officers are happy to work with these businesses to help them comply with the law. However, this requires co-operation on both sides and unfortunately, in this case it did not happen. We have tried over a number of years to work with Mr Hardy but to no avail.
The premises now has a new landlord and an unannounced inspection has recently taken place. The inspecting officer was satisfied that practices and procedures observed were of the standard that we expect food businesses to implement and maintain”
