A takeaway restaurant has been fined £1,000 after serving a customer a burger at 10.04pm – four minutes after the 10pm coronavirus curfew.
Bim’s in Ilford, east London, was caught with a single customer inside after the cut-off time, despite the customer’s receipt stating the burger had been ordered at 10pm exactly.
As of September 24, all hospitality venues in England must shut at exactly 10pm, in a decision made to help curb the spread of coronavirus. However, in Wales, pubs have been afforded 20 minutes of flexibility.
A spokesperson for Bim’s claimed staff had been unaware of the breach, saying: ‘Our staff were under the impression that if an order was placed by 10pm it could still be served.
‘The food took less than four minutes to arrive and he left at 10.04pm.
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‘Our staff were then shocked to be informed that they had breached the new laws by a matter of four minutes.’
The restaurant went on to criticise many of the Covid-19 rules, arguing that they were being made ‘thick and fast’. As a result, ‘sometimes it isn’t clear exactly how they should be interpreted’.
However, Bim’s added the mistake was ‘made in good faith’ and they ‘will obviously take greater care in future to abide by the law’.
Ilford is in the east London borough of Redbridge, which has the highest rate of infection out of all 28 London boroughs.
The most recent Public Health England figures found it has a rate of 59 cases per 100,000 people, while Barking and Dagenham stands at second-place in London, with 53.5 cases per 100,000 people.
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Earlier this week, other businesses in Ilford faced similar consequences for breaches such as having customers on the premises past 10pm and for patrons not wearing masks.
Meanwhile, the manager of Castle Bromwich Hall in Solihull became one of the first people to be fined with the maximum penalty of £10,000 for hosting a funeral party with 200 guests.
The hotel and events venue has also been banned from holding events until January next year following the large gathering on September 25.
Overall, the UK has seen a huge increase in coronavirus cases, with a further 12,872 positive tests reported on Saturday – marking the biggest ever rise in cases in 24 hours.
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/10/04/takeaway-fined-1000-for-serving-burger-four-minutes-after-10pm-curfew-13367990/