Restaurateur is fined £35,000 for gas offence

A RESTAURANT owner has been fined £35,000 for a dangerous gas fault.

It is the second time Naveed Durrani, owner of the Khan Tandoori in Middlesbrough, Teesside, has been fined in three years.

Food safety officer Sarah Ratcliffe smelled gas on a visit to the restaurant in Borough Road.

The supply was cut off at the mains, but when Ratcliffe returned to the restaurant the next day she found the gas had been switched back on without the fault being mended.

There were also naked flames in the kitchen, Teesside magistrates were told.

An engineer condemned the gas system and turned it off again until a new one was installed.

Durrani, who was abroad, and his company KT Food, also of Borough Road, Middlesbrough, were found guilty in his absence of seven health and safety offences.

The court was told the breaches happened while Durrani was in Pakistan on business.

He had left his restaurant in the hands of a temporary manager and chef. Both were later dismissed.

Durrani was fined £4,000 in 1996 for 12 hygiene and food safety offences.