Hotel manager handed £200,000 fine for flouting fire safety laws

A hotel manager has been handed the biggest ever fine secured by the London Fire Brigade for flouting safety laws and risking the lives of guests. Salim Patel, former owner of the Radnor Hotel, in Bayswater, was fined more than £200,000 after fire inspectors found numerous fire safety breaches. The Old Bailey heard during a routine inspection in 2011 investigators found missing fire doors, inadequate emergency lighting and no fire risk assessment. The basement storeroom had also been converted to be used for sleeping.

A follow up inspection found there was no working fire detection system.

Mr Patel was ordered to make the hotel safer, but he ignored the warning and was taken to court by the LFB.

Sentencing, Judge Kennedy said the public expected “absolute attention” to fire safety and Mr Patel did not provide it.

Mr Patel was handed a four month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months during a hearing at the Old Bailey on Tuesday. He was fined £200,000 and also ordered to pay £29,922 court costs. Neil Orbell, head of fire safety regulation, said: “This is the biggest fine we have ever secured against an individual for breaking fire safety laws and it should send a message to all business owners that if they are shirking their fire safety responsibilities and putting the public at risk we won’t hesitate to prosecute. “The size of the fine should also serve as a stark reminder that the courts take fire safety just as seriously as we do.”