LONDON: An Indian restaurant, owned by Shabana and Mohammad was fined due to the smells emitted by their restaurant. The complaint was lodged by the neighbours surrounding their eatery.
According to the local authority, the fine was issued by Middlesbrough council for diffusing smells of biryanis and other Punjabi food items in the neighbourhood. Due to insufficient filtration system in their restaurant, some neighbours found this inconvenient to get dominant smells of Indian spices, TOI reported.
District Judge Kristina Harrison heard from a council prosecutor that some residents had complained that the smells of spicy food from the restaurant’s kitchen got in through their windows and was overpowering. Moreover, they would have to wash their clothes due to the penetration of smells in their clothes.
The pair were fined 258 pounds each, ordered to pay 500 pounds costs each, and a 30 pounds victim surcharge. However, some other local businesses and councillors, in a written document said that they had never encountered any smells.
The company who installed their kitchen in 2015 told them they had the right equipment. The couple and the other partners have now upgraded the filtration system and the work is in progress. Shabana, 42- year-old said, “We are relieved that it’s all over, but we feel let down by the council.”
“We’ve tried to be a good neighbour but we feel we’ve been targeted by a small minority of people. Others have said they can’t smell anything until they’re inside the restaurant,” she said. Mohammed, 46, said, “It has been very stressful. We have had this hanging over us, and we will also have the fine hanging over us and when you start a business, you’re trying everything you can to be a success.”
The Khushi’s, had admitted that they failed to comply with a notice given to them last year to stop the smells.
“Cooking odours being emitted by the extraction system at said premises, in order to prevent nuisance being caused to neighbouring occupiers”, the notice read between March and September in 2016.