A Croydon tyre company has been found guilty of a series of fire safety offences and residential living on site.

London Fire Brigade Safety Officers visited Tyre Channel Ltd on Mill Lane after police raised their concerns over poor safety conditions.

Tyre Channel Ltd and its director Anup Patel appeared at Southwark Crown Court last week on January 28.

Both Patel and Tyre Ltd plead guilty to three counts of; No fire risk assessment, General fire precautions and No fire alarm/detection.

On arrival, fire inspectors found a makeshift corridor at the rear of the single-storey industrial unit with several rooms leading off it.

Inspectors then found a kitchen and bedrooms which were used as living accommodation for workers at the site.

The premises were found to be heavily loaded with flammable items including tyres stacked over four metres high.

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A notice was issued later the same day to ban the premises from being used for sleeping or residential use.

The residential area had evidence of both cooking and smoking, as well as, scorched and overloaded cables which highlighted poor maintenance of electrics.

Tyre Ltd also failed to have a fire risk assessment for the premises.

Furthermore, there was no evidence to show that staff had been trained in emergency procedures.

The Brigade’s Assistant Commissioner for Fire Safety said:

“As the director of the company, Mr Patel has had complete disregard for the safety of his staff.

"Both at work and in the living arrangements, many of them were paying him for.

“There is no excuse for leaving people’s safety to chance.

"Especially when information is so readily available to those with responsibility for safety in buildings to understand what their duties are and ensure they comply with the law.”

The company was fined £60,000 and ordered to pay £10,000 in costs.

Mr Patel was given an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.