A top bakery has been fined after a woman fell through a cellar hatch and fractured her pelvis on her birthday.

The woman, who has not been named, went to Gail's Artisan Bakery near Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in Fulham Road on April 25 last year to buy some cakes to celebrate her birthday.

What should have been a simple trip to the bakery ended up with the woman having to spend five days in hospital with a fractured pelvis after she fell eight foot through an open and unguarded cellar hatch next to a cake display and the till.

The owners of the bakery were fined £8,000, ordered to pay Kensington and Chelsea Council costs of £3,894.72 and a victim surcharge of £120 on Tuesday (August 12) at Hammersmith Magistrates' Court.

They pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity to failing to discharge a duty of care under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

The woman now has difficulty walking, despite having an active lifestyle before where she jogged daily, and has been unable to return to work.

An investigation into the accident by the council's environmental health officers found the bakery's management was not implementing safe systems of work or following company procedures designed to prevent this type of incident.

Lawyers for Gail's Limited told the court the bakery, which has no previous convictions, took the case very seriously and was extremely sorry the customer was injured in the bakery.

The Chairwoman of the Bench noted the company's early guilty plea and ful cooperation with the council's investigation.

She also noted that it was Gail's first offence in nine years trading and it has introduced prompt remedial measures, including redesigning the bakery so the hatch was no longer required to access a storage area.