Durham City premises fined for lack of CCTV
A County Durham man has been ordered to pay over £1,000 for failing to comply with the licensing conditions of his business.
We took legal action against Sadeck Amin, of Westhouse Avenue in Durham, after his business Urban Oven, on Claypath, was found to be operating without CCTV.
A condition of the premises' licence, which allows hot food and refreshments to be served until 3am, requires it to have a CCTV system installed both internally and externally with recordings to be made available when requested.
Routine inspection
Peterlee Magistrates Court heard that we carried out a routine inspection of Urban Oven in 2019, when staff were unable to show the CCTV was working, resulting in a warning letter being sent to Amin.
A further inspection in October 2021 found the CCTV once again failed to work and Amin told officers it had been broken for two weeks.
He was issued with another warning letter requiring the CCTV to be fixed within seven days.
The following month, police officers requested CCTV from the premises and were told it had not been working for four weeks.
When the officers tried to view the hard drive, they found the cameras had not been recording since June 2021.
Court hearing
Amin, 36, pleaded guilty by post to operating without a working CCTV system as per his premise licence conditions, which allowed for the provision of late-night refreshment.
He was ordered to pay a £733 fine, £394 costs, and a £73 victim surcharge, totalling £1,200.
Owen Cleugh, our public protection manager, said: "As a business owner, we would expect that every effort is made to comply with each of its conditions. Not doing so potentially puts staff and customers at risk and can also be very costly.
"In this instance, the main purpose of CCTV is to ensure public safety and to prevent crime and disorder. For a premises to disregard this shows failings of the management and their priorities in keeping the public safe."
