Restaurant owner fined over fire risk failure

Firefighters were called to China Wok on the High Street in Stokesley in January when a serious fire on the ground floor trapped two occupants upstairs.

The two were successfully rescued by fire crews and taken to hospital.

North Yorkshire fire service said investigations revealed the owner, Mr Shun Lin Lam, had failed to correct several fire safety problems.

He had also allowed people to sleep on the premises even thought there was no adequate means of escape, nor a fire alarm, a fire detection system, any emergency lighting or fire extinguishers.

At Northallerton Magistrates Court on Monday, Lam admitted 10 breaches of fire safety regulations and was fined 15,000 with 757 costs and 15 victim surcharge.

Karen Galloway, prosecuting, said: "The contraventions in this case were serious and would have continued had the Fire Authority not acted immediately by serving a prohibition notice on the Responsible person."

Mr Lam told the magistrates that he was very sorry and was not aware of the fire safety regulations.

The court heard he had fully co-operated with the courts and Fire Authority but had been ignorant of fire safety regulations.

Fire station manager David Watson said yesterday: "The majority of business premises that we visit under our audit schedule are well-managed.

"However, we continue to find buildings where the legislation does apply, which do not have adequate fire risk assessments or fire safety provisions.

"Thankfully on this occasion we were alerted to the incident quickly, and fire fighters were able to respond and deliver life saving intervention at this serious fire incident."

The fire service organises regular risk assessment seminars.