On this occasion, one of the UK’s major high street chains, New Look, was prosecuted following their pleading guilty to two breaches of the Fire Safety Order, and ordered to pay a fine of £400,000 and costs of £136,052, together totalling more than half a million pounds!

The most serious breach found by the fire brigade was New Look’s failure to have an adequate fire risk assessment.

Councillor Brian Coleman AM FRSA, Chairman of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, said: “Good business management includes taking responsibility for fire safety, knowing the law and acting on it. This conviction shows that large companies are not exempt from prosecution and that London Fire Brigade will take action when businesses do not take their fire safety responsibilities seriously. Failure to comply with the law can, as this case has shown, result in a substantial fine.”

Read more about the prosecution on the London Fire Brigade’s Press Release.