A hotel in Golders Green has been fined £20,000 for fire safety offences, including the absence of smoke alarms and emergency lighting.
The Hoop Lane Trust, which owns The Central Hotel, on Hoop Lane, North London, was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court after pleading guilty to five offences under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. London Fire Brigade was also awarded costs of £15,000.
LFB fire safety inspectors visited the 24 room hotel following a small fire in its 13 bedroom annexe on 16 June 2013. They discovered a number of fire safety issues, including:
An Enforcement Notice was issued by the Brigade in July 2013 but subsequent visits found that the work required to address the fire safety failures had not been completed.
Speaking after the prosecution, LFB’s Assistant Commissioner for Fire Safety Dan Daly said: “Although the fire at the hotel was relatively small, the safety failures our inspectors uncovered could have easily led to a much more serious incident.
“The Trust had a responsibility to protect those working at and visiting their premises from fire but by ignoring those responsibilities, they potentially put people’s lives at serious risk.
“While we are keen to work with building owners to help them meet their safety responsibilities we won’t hesitate to prosecute if we find they are persistently breaking fire safety laws.”
There is no general legal requirement for sprinkler systems to be installed in a place of work but there may be circumstances where sprinklers are required.
This guide provides an overview of the need-to-know information for sprinklers and covers:
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That will look good on Trip Advisor!
Why has it taken 4 years to bring them to justice??
From when the Hotel opened till the fire, nobody noticed that it ran without a fire alarm nor emergency lighting who might have noticed one can only guess.
It seems local regulators, insurance providers, auditors etc are exempt from having documented cover of required legal requirements while still charging for their expertise.
Hotel owners / managers should know better. They have been subject to fire safety legislation since 1974, deserve all they get and more.
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