A former Carshalton restaurant owner has been fined £1,480 after being found guilty of multiple breaches of food standards laws.

Sutton Council’s trading standards officers prosecuted Xian Cao, former owner of Dragon City, 45 Stanley Road, Carshalton, for failing to comply with food hygiene notices and breaching hygiene standards.

The failures included failure to clean the kitchen, obtain pest control or purchase another fridge freezer.

Mr Cao pleaded guilty at Croydon Magistrates Court to 12 offences including four failures to comply with food hygiene notices and eight contraventions of hygiene standards.

For each offence Mr Cao was fined the sum of £80 (12 x 80) – £960

Costs in the sum of £500

Victim Surcharge £20

Total Sentence – £1,480

The business has now been passed to a new owner.

A council spokesman said: “The safety of food and standards of hygiene in our food businesses is of the utmost priority to us. The owner in this case failed to deal with the issues raised by officers and has been prosecuted as a result.

“Cases like this are extremely rare but officers will take tough action against any business found to be in breach of food hygiene laws. Residents can be reassured that the majority of food outlets in the borough are operated at a very high standard.”