A catalogue of serious safety breaches in a major supermarket chain's stores across East Sussex put shoppers' lives at risk, fire crews have said. The Co-op Group was fined £250,000 plus costs of £11,176 to be paid to the fire authority, after 38 of the 41 stores in the Sussex area failed to meet proper safety standards. The breaches came to light in July 2006 when a member of the public alerted East Sussex Fire and Rescue to fire safety issues concerning the Co-op store in London Road, St Leonards. It prompted a full investigation of all the group's stores in the area and almost all of them were found to have broken fire safety regulations.
Among the breaches uncovered were obstructed or locked fire exits, fire doors wedged open and a lack of alarms. Fire service spokesman Richard Fowler said, "You put your trust into the owners of that business, what you don't expect is for a fire to occur and to find yourself trapped in a building, not able to get out of the premises. That was the situation we were potentially faced with in these stores."
East Sussex Fire and Rescue had previously prosecuted the Co-op group in 2006 for similar offences. In a statement, Co-op said they deeply regretted the breaches and correct safety procedures were now in place.
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