Harrogate Bed and Breakfast fined £5,000 over safety issues

The owner of a Harrogate Bed and Breakfast has been fined £5,000 over failure to comply with electrical safety works Improvement Notice.

As the owner of a bed and breakfast in Harrogate receives a heavy fine for failing to carry out electrical safety works, Harrogate Borough Council’s Food and Occupational Safety team urge the owners of all businesses to comply with Health and Safety at Work regulations.

A routine inspection of these premises by the council and the Health and Safety Executive revealed a number of serious electrical safety matters and an Improvement Notice was served. The owner of the premises ignored this notice and failed to carry out the necessary safety work resulting in further legal action being taken.

The case was heard in the Magistrates’ Court on 20 January 2012, when the owner of Azalea Court, 56-58 Kings Road, pleaded guilty to failing to comply with the notice and was fined £5,000. The council was awarded full costs of £2,090. The Magistrates expressed their concern that this business had allowed the matter to carry on and had continued to put lives at risk by failing to address the electrical defects.

Councillor Stuart Martin, Chair of the council’s Licensing Committee, said:

Businesses must make sure that their electrical systems are maintained in a safe condition. Had this owner complied with the Improvement Notice then they wouldn’t have had to pay this hefty fine.

Whilst this was an extreme case, action will be taken against those businesses neglecting to maintain their premises in a safe condition and putting people in danger. I am happy to say that the electrical system at Azalea Court has now been inspected and tested by a competent electrician and the system is now safe. We have also been notified that a competent electrician has now been contracted to maintain the electrics at the premises.