Owner fined over mouse droppings

Herman Rodrigues was fined £2,700 at Edinburgh Sheriff Court

A former restaurant owner caught with mouse droppings in his Edinburgh premises has been fined £2,700.

Herman Rodrigues, 47, and his company Indi Foods, previously admitted five breaches of food hygiene at his former Edinburgh restaurant Suruchi.

Rodrigues was banned from managing any food business for six months and will need court permission before he can manage a restaurant again.

He was fined at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Wednesday.

Sheriff Douglas Allan reduced the penalty from £3,600 because Rodrigues pleaded guilty.

"I can't pretend that this is anything other than unsatisfactory," said the sheriff, telling Rodrigues: "The plain fact of the matter is you were the food business operator and you have failed to ensure that the law was complied with."

Environmental health inspectors found rodent droppings near bags of flour and drinking glasses and a leaking waste pipe in the Nicholson Street restaurant in April 2006.

A mouse nibbled bag found in Suruchi pointed to problems

Sheriff Allan delayed fining Rodrigues twice to allow the businessman to provide full details of his financial position, but the former restaurant boss once again appeared without the proper documents.

A bag of almonds had been gnawed by rodents and there was "inadequate control" of mouse infestation plus the leaking waste pipe.

Indi Foods was fined £1,800 two years ago for failing to control cockroaches and rodents at a restaurant in 2005.