Restaurant fined £20k over foul water discharge

The "foul" water was found spilling out onto a pathway

A fast food restaurant which allowed "foul water" to run down a street has been fined £20,000.

Lancaster City Council said its inspectors also found "a protective guard missing from the rotating blade of an extraction fan which posed an injury risk" at Burgshake in Lancaster.

The council said the business had failed to comply with a prohibition notice to stop the fan's use, as well as an improvement notice requiring it to be made safe.

The restaurant was also ordered to rectify the drainage on to an access path, regularly used by students to reach their accommodation, to protect the health of the public.

The shop admitted the charges

The St Leonardsgate business, which is part of a national chain, admitted one health and safety offence, one food safety and hygiene offence, and two counts of failing to comply with improvement notices.

Lancaster Magistrates ordered the company to pay a £20,000 fine, plus pay costs of £2,723.44 and a victim surcharge of £2,000, the council said.

The restaurant has been approached for a comment.