Cambridge Arundel House Hotel gave nuts to allergic customer

Arundel House Hotel had been told a customer had a severe nut allergy

A hotel gave a customer with a known nut allergy food containing the ingredient causing them to go into anaphylactic shock, a court has heard.

The person had to be taken to hospital after eating a pasta dish at the Arundel House Hotel in Cambridge.

Council trading standards officers said the hotel had been told about the allergy but this was not properly communicated to kitchen staff.

The hotel admitted breaching food safety rules and was fined £1,500.

Its restaurant had been informed the customer had a "severe" nut allergy and this had been recorded at the time of booking, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Trading Standards said.

However, not all kitchen staff had been told and the customer was given a pasta dish cooked in the normal way with nuts and peanuts.

'Poor controls'

The customer was initially sick, but when the symptoms worsened they used their EpiPen.

They then had to be taken to hospital for treatment.

Trading standards officers referred the case to the courts because of "the seriousness of the incident" and "poor controls at the time" at the three-star establishment on Chesterton Road.

At Peterborough Magistrates' Court the hotel admitted supplying unsafe food and was ordered to pay £4,400 including a fine, costs and compensation.

Peter Gell, head of the council trading standards department, said: "The hotel co-operated fully with our trading standards service and their own investigation had already led to a range of improvements, but these could have been identified and put into action before a customer was hospitalised."

No-one from the hotel was available to comment.