The restaurant owner pleaded guilty at Thames Magistrates’ Court
(Picture: Google StreetView)An eight-year-old boy almost lost his hand after it became caught in a mincing machine at a top Turkish restaurant in east London.
Magistrates fined Veysel Yavuz, 40, owner of Gokyuzu Walthamstow, more than £70,000 after a court heard an in-built guard fixed to the mincer had been removed with an angle grinder.
The child, a relative of a staff member, was left with life-changing injuries in the kitchen in April 2019.
Environmental health officers discovered an absence of any written risk assessments, training or other safety procedures. Yavuz, of Cockfosters, pleaded guilty to one count of failing to ensure the safety of employees and one count of failing to ensure dangerous machinery had the required safety measures in place at Thames magistrates’ court on Friday. A third charge of failing to control access to the kitchen was dropped.
Clyde Loakes, of Waltham Forest council, said: “This case and the punishment handed down should be a reminder to all businesses of their duties to customers, staff and visitors.”
Yavuz, who appeared on Sony TV’s The Chef alongside presenter Hersha Patel in 2020, was fined £70,000 with costs of £16,557.27 awarded to the council. When approached by the Standard, Yavuz declined to comment, saying: “There’s nothing I’d like to add.”
