The UK’s largest mutual retailer has been fined £210,000 after pleading guilty to six breaches of fire safety legislation. It follows an investigation in 2007 at one of their branches. Officers from Hampshire Fire and Rescue found that the store had failed to keep the rear emergency exit doors unlocked, and had fitted a lock on the exit doors that required a security code – making the exit harder to open in an emergency. In addition, the fire alarm call point was found to be obstructed and the alarm had not been tested regularly, while the store’s manager was not instructed in fire safety.
The Fire and Rescue Authority also took into account three other offences at other retail premises. Back in 2007, the organisation was fined what was then believed to be a record £250,000 for 13 offences under previous fire safety legislation (the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations) in six stores in East Sussex.