A CURRY house in Meirionnydd has been fined thousands of pounds for food cleanliness offences after receiving a hygiene rating of zero.

The owner of the Blaenau Ffestiniog Indian restaurant has been fined nearly £3,500 by magistrates for various offences in his restaurant.

On 2 December, Shanur Ahmed, the owner of the Red Chillies, 38 High Street, pleaded guilty to 11 food hygiene offences at Caernarfon Magistrates Court.

The case was brought by Gwynedd Council’s Public Protection Service after officers from the council’s food safety team came across the business trading whilst undertaking out-of-hours insp­ections in the town.

Due to the numerous contraventions identified at the time it was decided that the business could not be allowed to continue trading.

The business agreed to close until the issues were addressed.

The restaurant was awarded a Food Hygiene Rating of 0: ‘Urgent Improvement Necessary’ at the time.

In addition to food hygiene offences, further investigations revealed that the business had employed an engineer to fix a gas boiler when he was not in fact permitted to carry out work on any commercial gas appliances.

The matter was referred to Gas Safe and subsequently to the Health and Safety Executive.

Alun Evans, Gwynedd Council public protection manager for food safety, said: “It is disappointing that on this occasion the business had put profits ahead of public safety.

“Whilst prosecution is the last resort, standards were so poor when our officers visited that the authority had little option but to seek redress through the courts.

“We welcome the penalty imposed by the magistrates and trust that it serves as a timely reminder to food businesses to comply with the law.

“On a positive note, the business subsequently requested a rerating inspection.

“On 3 March officers carried out a rerating insp­ection at Red Chillies.

“The business was awarded a Food Hygiene Rating of 4. This shows that when a real eff­ort is made to comply with legal requirements a business may receive a good or very good Food Hygiene Rating.”

Cllr Dafydd Meurig, Gwynedd Council’s cabinet member with responsibility for public protection matters, added: “I can only support the action taken by the council’s food safety team.

“Whilst I would always advocate for businesses to be given assistance to comply with regulations, I was shocked to hear about the contraventions noted and the potential harm that could have resul­ted from them in this case.

“I’m pleased to announce that most food businesses in Gwynedd take food hygiene very seriously and more than 92 per cent of our food businesses have a good or very good food hygiene rating.”