THE owner of a popular town centre Indian restaurant has been fined more than £7,000 for fire safety breaches - and could see his business facing closure.

On July 27 last year, inspectors carried out a routine inspection of Taj Mahal in Denmark Street (Wokingham), run by Mohammad Omar Sharif Bhuiya, where they found the window in an upstairs bedroom, where four members of staff slept, blocked with an iron bar - leaving them without an emergency exit.

They also discovered customers would not be able to flee quickly in a fire, as a previous fire exit had been blocked either by Mr Bhuiya or a previous owner, most likely to avoid diners leaving without paying.

No fire assessment risks had ever been carried out by Mr Bhuiya, there was no up-to-date emergency plan and no suitable fire alarm system.

Michael Bügg, prosecuting, said: "This was a case of profit before safety and a reckless breach of the law."

However, defence barrister Colin Hart, argued Mr Bhuiya had had no prior warning to say an inspection would take place, except for a letter on July 14.

Following the visit, he said his defendant bought fire alarms the same day, installed them the following day and that he complied with both an enforcement and prohibition notice quickly.

He said: "He had put in the barbed windows a number of years ago on the police's advice because of burglaries.

"He has a number of rules and regulations to comply with and he has help from the health and safety team as his language needs assistance from time to time but not the fire service.

"This is a small restaurant and his profits are disastrous. His lease is up for renewal next year and he is not sure if he can continue.

"His brother already lent him £4,000 and he has had to take out a loan; he is struggling to keep going."

Sentencing Mr Bhuiya to pay £7,551.51 in fines on nine counts of fire safety breaches within three months, district judge Davinder Lacchar, said: "I give you credit for pleading guilty but ignorance of the law is no defence. It is up to you to find out what the rules are."