Hygiene fine threatens kebab shop’s future
A SHETLAND kebab house faces an uncertain future after its owner was fined for breaching basic hygiene regulations at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Thursday.
Saban Kusmus was fined a total of £1,200 after he admitted nine charges relating to the running of Turkish Delight, on Lerwick’s Harbour Street, between August 2011 and January last year.
However the court heard that his conviction may impact on his ability to renew his late catering licence this week, which is crucial to the success of the business.
The charges related to failing to provide adequate and clean facilities and equipment, and keeping the premises in a well maintained condition despite repeated visits from the local council’s environmental health department.
At an earlier hearing procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie described these as “basic hygiene failings” that constituted a “very real threat to public health”.
Defence agent Tommy Allan said that since the last hearing he had been in touch with environmental health officers, who said Kusmus had improved conditions, which were now “OK, but not perfect”.
Allan said the 50 year old had not been in charge of the kebab shop during much of the period in question during which he had been in hospital with a heart condition and visiting his sick mother in Turkey.
Turkish Delight is now being more closely scrutinised than most food outlets, Kusmus is cooperating with the authorities and his son is helping him run the business, the lawyer said.
However Shetland Islands Council’s licensing committee meets on Friday to consider the renewal of his licence to sell alcohol, which is his main source of income at weekends.
“This conviction will not help in relation to his application,” Allan said.
The court heard Kusmus had seven children and had invested all his savings into the business he set up when he came to Shetland seven years ago.
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“He’s determined to make a go of it so that he can support his family and he takes pride in his work,” Allan said.
Sheriff Philip Mann said that he appreciated that Kusmus was not in day to day charge at the time of the offences, but said it was a “heavy responsibility” to make sure food selling businesses were properly run.
“These failures could have resulted in danger to health and resulted in illness to people,” the sheriff said.
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