Bexhill Price Cutters shop fined over rat infestation
A shop owner from East Sussex has been fined after packets of food on the shelves were found to have been gnawed by rats and put back on sale.
Yogalingam Thavarajah was ordered to pay £8,000 after Rother District Council officials found the bags at Price Cutters in London Road, Bexhill.
Officers said they also found a dead rat during September's visit.
Thavarajah, the director of TS Traders, was also ordered to pay £3,245 costs at Hastings Magistrates' Court.
The council said officers served an emergency closure order on the business after discovering evidence of a "rat infestation".
It was allowed to re-open when officers were satisfied there was no longer a risk to public health.