Notting Hill restaurant E&O has been fined more than £15,500 after a child fell down an open cellar hatch and severely injured his head.

The Will Ricker-owned restaurant, who also owns XO, Eight Over Eight, the Great Eastern Dining Room and Cicada, pleaded guilty on two breaches of health and safety laws and was ordered to pay £15,642 by West London Magistrates Court.

During the incident, which took place in September 2005, a five-year-old boy suffered a one-inch cut to the head when he fell 10ft into a cellar after a delivery hatch had been left open on the pavement outside.

West London Magistrates Court ordered E&O to pay two fines totalling £9,750 as well as £1,750 compensation to the boy's parents and the council's costs of £4,142.

E&O was not available for comment.

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By Kerstin Kühn

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