A nursery has been fined £225,000 and closed after fresh mouse droppings were found scattered through the children’s playrooms, the kitchen and by a sink. Grim photos show hundreds of droppings hiding in the early years care building that on its website promises the “best start in life” for youngsters and “warm, nurturing environments that parents and children love.”
Beyond a major mice infestation the the Environmental Health Officer’s routine inspection of Busy Bees, Leytonstone, east London, revealed there was no hot water due to a busted boiler, no soap in the loos, and inadequate levels of cleaning. International firm Busy Bees Nurseries Limited, which runs over 390 establishments across the UK, pleaded guilty to two food safety and hygiene offences and ordered to pay £15,092 in costs and a £190 victim surcharge on top of the near-quarter of a million pound fine.
The nursery was shut immediately on the day of grisly discovery, which included fresh rodent faeces under units and in the storeroom. Councillor Khevyn Limbajee, Waltham Forest’s Cabinet Member for Community Safety, said the findings were shocking.
He said: “When parents entrust their children to attend a nursery, they do so in the belief that they will be left in a safe and clean environment. Young children are particularly vulnerable to the diseases due to their developing immune systems.
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"The intervention from our Food & Safety Team was crucial in preventing children from being exposed to hazardous conditions that could have impacted their health. The judge has rightly recognised the serious nature of the offences in this case through the imposition of such a significant penalty against Busy Bees Nurseries Limited.”
