Shop owner sold out of date goods

5:20pm Tuesday 21st August 2001

Barnet Council has issued a warning to traders across the borough after a Mill Hill shop owner was fined for persistently selling food past its use-by date and using an unsafe electric cooker.

Jegatheeswaran Aramboonthy, owner of the now closed Cashco Supermarket in Watford Way, appeared before Hendon Magistrates on August 6 in the prosecution brought by Barnet Council.

He pleaded guilty to four charges of selling food past its use-by date and three relating to the unsafe cooker. He was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,000.

A number of out-of-date items were found for sale during an inspection by environmental health officers in June last year along with a cooker which was a potential fire hazard because of poor wiring.

The officers removed the flex so the cooker could not be used and Mr Aramboonthy, of Streatfield Avenue, East Ham, was warned about the offences.

But when the officers returned two months later they found the cooker had been re-connected and the shop still had a number of out-of-date items for sale.

They visited again in September after another complaint and the shop closed down soon afterwards.

Steve Presland, head of environmental and neighbourhood services, said: "This case serves as a warning to other business across the borough.

"We can and will prosecute those who do not comply with the regulations and put either their staff or the public at risk, especially in cases where warnings or advice given previously have been ignored," he added.

Explore News Shopper