Carluccio's fined nearly £40,000 for crushed finger

Italian restaurant chain Carluccio's has been fined nearly £40,000 after a diner lost part of her finger when it was crushed in a toilet door.

The incident took place at Carluccio's in Reading in September 2006, when a female diner had the tip of her little finger removed after it was crushed in the toilet door of the restaurant.

Carluccio's admitted eight breaches of health and safety laws and was fined £25,000 with £5,000 costs, while managing director, Simon Kossoff, admitted two charges and was fined £7,000 with £1,530 costs.

Reading magistrates heard that the customer was leaving the toilet but turned back when the door closed and trapped her finger.

A Reading Borough Council environmental health officer visited the restaurant shortly after the incident and discovered that the heavy toilet door closers sprang shut too quickly.

Carluccio's has since made £4,000 of alterations to correct the problem.

Simon Kossoff, Carluccio's managing director, said both he and the group were "very sorry about the accident".

"We are in the business of looking after people and have looked after almost 16 million people in our restaurants but only had a small number of these incidents," he told the Reading Chronicle.

"Since then we have taken, and Reading Borough Council will agree, precautions above the average high street business to prevent this happening again."

Read the full article in the Reading Chronicle >>

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By Kerstin Kühn

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