The owner and the responsible person for an office block have been fined for negligence in relation to fire safety after being given time to rectify issues on numerous occasions.
They were given notice of deficiencies in 2019 followed by 2 further inspections where no actions were taken, and an enforcement notice was served as result.
Fire doors are an essential fire safety measure to help in lowering the risk of serious injury to a person in the case of an emergency. The owner had left the fire doors in a poor state, with broken or missing locks and gaps around the door where smoke and fire could escape making the doors redundant. It was clear from the reports that this was just one of the many measures that had not been maintained.
They pleaded guilty to all offences and received a fine of £10,000 for each of the four offences totalling £40,000. They also paid Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Services costs of £10,525.