A COCKROACH infestation at Raja's Pizza Bar at 808 Leeds Road, Bradford, has led to a fine for the takeaway's operator.

Raja Faisal Aziz was ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £4,420 after pleading guilty on Friday at Bradford Magistrates’ Court to 14 charges of failing to comply with the food safety and hygiene regulations.

At the request of Bradford Council an hygiene prohibition order was issued that prohibits Aziz from participating in the management of any food business.

The contraventions he admitted included failing to put in place adequate procedures to prevent a cockroach infestation that lead to an imminent risk to public health, failure to protect food against contamination that would render it unfit for human consumption, failure to keep a food business and food equipment clean and disinfected and a failure to store waste correctly.

He also admitted a failure to ensure food handlers are adequately trained, failure to ensure premises are protected against the ingress of pests, failure to implement and keep up to date a documented food safety management system, failure to comply with hygiene improvement notices and furnishing false and misleading information to an authorised officer.