Cockroach alert! Dixy Chicken restaurant in Edgbaston fined £3,000 for hygiene issues

A company has been fined £3,000 for a host of hygiene-related issues at a Dixy Chicken restaurant in Edgbaston.

The Acocks Green-based firm 349 DDR, which admitted nine hygiene offences, is also ordered to pay a further £2,423 in costs after the defects discovered in July last year.

Birmingham’s City Council noticed cockroaches running through the walls of the takeaway and overflowing grease dripping onto the floor. It also found the surfaces dirty, marinades covered with cardboard and holes burnt into a toilet seat.

A local magistrates’ court imposed the fine on the company during its sitting on September 22.

The first two offences were related to the ‘cockroach activities’ and inadequate pest control at the restaurant on Dudley Road, the Birmingham Mail reported.

There were missing ceiling tiles in the storeroom which could allow pest ingress. Cockroaches were found emerging from a gap in the food preparation area wall of the restaurant.

The third charge was related to the unhygienic conditions of the shelves, floor, walk-in freezer, walls, skirting boards, pipes, burger chiller and microwave. There were burnt holes in the toilet seat and the grease tap overflowed.

Food not covered in coolers and pickles covered in cartons on a charcoal grill risked contamination, according to other charges.

The remaining offences were related to distressed surfaces, unclean equipment, conditions around a hand wash basin, cardboard waste in the driveway and the absence of hazard analysis.

However, the situation improved at the food outlet after the defects were found.

The Food Hygiene Agency said the restaurant was inspected on February 9 this year and given a rating of 5 ‘very good’, the highest on the scale, according to the Birmingham Mail report.