A TAKEAWAY shop boss was ordered to carry out unpaid work yesterday at a cost of thousands of pounds to the taxpayer.

Zhu Shi, 48, from China, speaks no English, and a Mandarin interpreter will have to be hired for his 240-hour programme at up to £30-an-hour.

A judge imposed the punishment because Shi, from Guisborough, east Cleveland, had no money to pay a fine for running a dirty shop.

He earned only £100 a week from the Poon Kee takeaway, which allowed him to send £25-a-week to his wife and three children in China.

Shi, who came to the UK in 1997, will now have to live off benefits because Judge Howard Crowson has banned him indefinitely from running a food business.

He cannot return to China because he would be jailed for having three children – too many under the one-child rule, said his lawyer.

Shi’s shop in Highcliff View, Guisborough, was described by the judge at Teesside Crown Court as a danger to the public.

Shi pleaded guilty to 14 offences under the Food Hygiene Regulations in a prosecution brought by Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council.

He had been cautioned in June 2007 for similar breaches, and was fined £1,000 in July 2008 for five similar offences, said Paul Abrahams, prosecuting.

Council investigators tried to give him warnings and advice when they repeatedly inspected the premises last year.

But the dirty premises and poor work practices stayed virtually unchanged, even as recently as 14 days ago.

The authority applied in court for a hygiene prohibition order banning him from owning a food business until further notice.

Peter Sabiston, mitigating, said that Shi would not be able to earn an income and support his family if he was not allowed to stay in business.

He said that nobody had reported being ill after eating his food, and that Shi would benefit from a hygiene training course.

The judge told Shi: “It is necessary when you are providing takeaway food to the public that you operate good hygiene standards.

“I am satisfied that your approach to food hygiene and your convictions for these offences fulfil the need for me to make a prohibition order in your case.”

The council’s costs for the prosecution totalled £4,951, but the judge said that Shi, of Highcliff View, had no money to pay them.