Shop sleeping area results in prohibition notice
A Telford shopkeeper was stunned to receive a fire safety prohibition notice that means he has to pay the equivalent of three months profit to get corrective work done.
Gurmale Bhakar, who has run Finger Road Stores, in Dawley, with his wife for nine years, says Shropshire Fire & Rescue Service has visited before but “never said anything before” about a sleeping area.
Mr Bhakar said: “I don’t know how they can treat people like this. We have been here for nine years and the shop was run for 30 years before then and this hasn’t happened before.
“The upstairs is for a member of staff, it is not a house of multiple occupation. I could understand if it was but it is a personal use flat. I don’t receive any income on it.
“We run the shop on a lease where we have to pay for internal works like this and to carry out the work on fire doors will cost us £5,000 which is three months’ profit.
“I don’t know how they expect you to do it.”
A spokesperson for Shropshire Fire & Rescue Service said its officers identified “non compliance with fire safety legislation” during a “multi-agency visit” to the shop.
“Following an assessment, it was determined that if the premises were used for sleeping, the fire risk would be so severe that such use should be prohibited. As a result, a Prohibition Notice was issued to remove this risk.”
The fire service spokesperson said the premises will be subject to follow-up visits, audits, and further enforcement actions as necessary, “in accordance with Shropshire Fire and Rescue’s enforcement procedures.”
Pic: LDRS
