A Richmond restaurant which had a broken boiler and risked food cross contamination in its fridges has been forced to fork out £15,000.

The owner of Urban Diner, Ritu Dutt, was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay a £5,000 victim surcharge at Wimbledon Magistrates Court on Thursday following inspections in September and November 2015.

The restaurant, in Hill Street, had no hot water for some weeks due to the broken boiler, the court heard, and raw and cooked foods were kept together in fridges and were also prepared in the same areas of the kitchen.

The US-style restaurant was also found to have an inadequate Safety Management System detailing the procedures and policies for the kitchen and Ms Dutt pleaded guilty to three counts, according to Richmond Council.

Ms Dutt said the fine related to documentary and procedural concerns and the temporary breakdown of the boiler rather than hygiene problems, and every issue was fixed quickly.

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Ms Dutt said: “We resolved these issues quickly and we have continued to maintain our usual high standards since.

“New stricter sentencing guidelines mean that even companies as small as us can be fined up to £120,000 per offence, so it is clear that the fine handed to us in the context of these guidelines was reflective of the fact that the court took into account that we did not deliberately flout the law and that these were historic issues relating to one day over a year ago, which were swiftly resolved and for which we are very sorry.”

Richmond’s cabinet member for environment, Pamela Fleming, said Ms Dutt could be in danger of disqualification from running a food business should standards not improve.

Cllr Fleming said: “We do not bring these charges lightly and we felt that we collected robust evidence and had acted proportionately and in accordance with our enforcement policy.

“Whist we are willing to help and assistant businesses improve standards we have a duty to the public to ensure premises observe food hygiene regulations and we will not tolerate those who do not comply.”

Ms Dutt said the Urban Diner was one of a very small number of independent businesses that remained in Richmond, and it had always tried to work alongside the local authority to take hygiene and food quality “incredibly seriously.”

She said: “I am personally devastated by what has happened as I have put everything into growing and improving this restaurant and I have always tried to go above and beyond for my customers and staff to contribute to an area that I love and live in.”