A nursery has been fined £225,000 for serious hygiene breaches after mouse droppings were found in children’s playrooms and a kitchen.
Busy Bees at Leytonstone, in east London, was closed by health inspectors after they also found a lack of hot water due to a broken boiler, no soap in the toilets and poor levels of cleaning during a visit on January 12 last year.
Busy Bees runs more than 390 outlets throughout the UK that offer “rich learning opportunities and warm, nurturing environments that parents and children love”.
The firm has now pleaded guilty at Thames Magistrates Court to two food safety and hygiene offences and has been fined £225,000.
The court was told that environmental health officers from Waltham Forest Council found mouse droppings throughout the kitchen, under units, by the sink, storeroom, and in the children’s playrooms.
In addition, there were other cleanliness issues such as a lack of hot water due to a broken boiler, no soap in the toilets, inadequate levels of cleaning and poorly documented management control, the court heard.
As a result, the nursery was closed by the council on the same day.
Matt Labaki, operations director for Busy Bees, said: “Once the issues had been identified we immediately brought in external contractors to address both issues that had been found and they conducted a complete review of our health and hygiene processes.
“Both issues were rectified within days.
“The independent specialists reviewed the site and implemented a plan to deal with the issues and ensure we meet the required standards.
“Our actions included a thorough deep clean of the entire premises, including all equipment used within the nursery. We have made significant investment in the centre and in retraining staff to ensure all are fully up to speed with current hygiene best practice.
“At the hearing the judge acknowledged that this was a localised failing and only related to this particular nursery. It was acknowledged in court that Busy Bees has an excellent record with consistently high gradings in hygiene across our nurseries and that industry recognised systems and checks are in place.”
Councillor Khevyn Limbajee, Waltham Forest’s cabinet member for community safety, said the findings were shocking.
He said: “When parents entrust their children to attend a nursery, they do so in the belief that they will be left in a safe and clean environment.
“Young children are particularly vulnerable to the diseases due to their developing immune systems. The intervention from our Food & Safety Team was crucial in preventing children from being exposed to hazardous conditions that could have impacted their health.
“The Judge has rightly recognised the serious nature of the offences in this case through the imposition of such a significant penalty against Busy Bees Nurseries Limited.”
