AN EX-MAYOR who allowed his former restaurant to become a potential death trap has been ordered to pay nearly £14,000.

Labour councillor Darshan Grewal was sentenced at Feltham Magistrates' Court on Monday (July 1) for breaching fire safety regulations at the Karahi Palace eatery he used to own in Hounslow West.

He was ordered to pay a total of £13,815, including £3,000 costs, while his former partner at the restaurant Surjit Dhaliwal was told to cough up £12,565.

Grewal, 56, of Laburnum Grove, Hounslow, and Dhaliwal, also of Laburnum Grove, both admitted eight counts of breaching safety regulations. They were charged after inspectors found rubbish blocking the fire escape, among other hazards, putting people at risk of death or serious injury in the event of a blaze.

Kitty St Aubyn, prosecuting, said: "It goes without saying that the contraventions posed a significant risk to a large number of people. The banqueting hall and restaurant held 300 people, not to mention the waiting staff working there."

The court heard how Grewal had bought the business in 2005 and went into partnership with Dhaliwal the following year, but the restaurant was making a loss and they fell out before selling it in December 2010.

Both Grewal and Dhaliwal claimed the other man had been responsible for the eatery's day-to-day running when it failed the inspection in March 2010, although Dhaliwal was present along with Grewal's son.

Sentencing the pair, chairman of the bench Geoff Pinney gave Dhaliwal some credit for having eventually made the necessary safety improvements.

"A very large number of people were put at significant risk by these breaches. It's by pure good fortune nobody's been hurt," said Mr Pinney.

Speaking after sentencing, Grewal, who has resigned as chief whip of the ruling Labour group, just weeks after being appointed, said he planned to appeal against the ruling to the High Court.

Although both he and Dhaliwal pleaded guilty to all the charges, they only did so because the judge had told them they had to accept liability as joint leaseholders.