A 99p shop in Ealing was forced to close and fined £240,000 after inspectors found rat droppings in store and a dead rodent in its storage room.

Owners of the 99p Store in Broadway, West Ealing, pleaded guilty to six food safety offences at Ealing Magistrates Court on December 3 2015.

99p Stores Limited was sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court on Thursday (January 21) and fined £40,000 for each of the six offences, totalling £240,000, and ordered to pay £6824.05 for Ealing Council' s legal costs.

It was also forced to close in December 2015 and re-opened as Poundland in January 2016 under new ownership, which was recently given a food hygiene rating of five out of five.

The case follows a visit from the council's food hygiene inspectors on January 7 2015, after a customer complained they had seen a rat in the store.

Rat droppings were found beside food packets in a storage area where inspectors also discovered a gnawed packet of peanuts.

They also found a dead rodent on racking in the same store room.

Initially the store was given an improvement notice on January 15, 2015, but when inspectors returned on February 12 the following month they found more droppings.

A packet of pasta which had been chewed by rats was also found by inspectors and the store had ignored recommendations by the pest control company it used for rodent proofing.

Then on December 1 2015, inspectors found yet more rat droppings and damaged stock during a pre-court inspection and issued an emergency notice for it to close.

Councillor Ranjit Dheer, Ealing Council’s cabinet member for community services and safety, said: “I am very pleased that the court has recognised the seriousness of these offences and imposed a heavy fine.

"The company repeatedly ignored orders to clean up its act and allowed food to be stored in revolting conditions, which could well be a health hazard."

Action also taken against restaurants

In a separate case this month, former manager of The Clay Oven, in The Mall, Ealing, Juliat Cheruvathur, was banned from ever running a food business in the future after District Judge Day described her as "utterly negligent" at Ealing Magistrates Court on January 15.

She was fined £2,700, ordered to pay the council's costs of £2,310.28 and a victim supercharge of £60 for offences relating to cleaning and pest control after the restaurant was closed by inspectors on three separate occasions.

A rat was spotted running across the kitchen during one inspection.

The restaurant is now under new management.

Owner of restaurant Molana, Uxbridge Road, West Ealing, Kiyan Sohrabi, was fined £5,315, ordered to pay costs of £1,568.06 and given a victim supercharge of £91.

He was prosecuted for offences relating to cleaning, pest control and cross-contamination.

The business also contravened an emergency prohibition notice served by the council.

It had been ordered to close temporarily but, following improvements, Molana has now achieved a food hygiene rating of four out of five.