A takeaway owner has been ordered to pay more than £1000 after he “failed to protect customers” in his premises – but has managed to hold onto his license.
Durham County Council took legal action against Sadeck Amin, of Westhouse Avenue in Durham, after his business Urban Oven, on Claypath, was found to be operating without CCTV.
As part of the takeaway’s licence, which allows hot food and refreshments to be served until 3am, there is a requirement for it to have a CCTV system installed both internally and externally with recordings to be made available when requested.
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However, Peterlee Magistrates Court heard that the council carried out a routine inspection of Urban Oven in 2019 when staff were unable to show the CCTV was working.
On this occasion, a warning letter was sent to Amin.
A further inspection in October 2021 found the CCTV again failed to work and Amin told officers it had been broken for two weeks.
He was issued with another warning letter requiring the CCTV to be fixed within seven days.
The following month, police officers requested CCTV from the premises and were told it had not been working for four weeks.
When the officers tried to view the hard drive, they found the cameras had not been recording since June 2021.
Amin, 36, pleaded guilty by post to operating without a working CCTV system as per his premise licence conditions, which allowed for the provision of late-night refreshment.
In court, he was ordered to pay a £733 fine, £394 costs, and a £73 victim surcharge, totalling £1,200.
Following the court judgement, Owen Cleugh, Durham County Council’s public protection manager, took the opportunity to warn other premises that think it’s okay to operate without CCTV cameras.
He said: “As a business owner, we would expect that every effort is made to comply with each of its conditions. Not doing so potentially puts staff and customers at risk and can also be very costly.
“In this instance, the main purpose of CCTV is to ensure public safety and to prevent crime and disorder.
“For a premises to disregard this shows failings of the management and their priorities in keeping the public safe.”
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