Court fines businesses for breaches of food safety regulations
Two businesses linked to a New Brighton café - and the director of those businesses - have been ordered to pay a combined total of nearly £100,000 after pleading guilty to food safety offences at a hearing at Wirral Magistrates Court recently (March 6th 2025).
The prosecution was brought against David Dooley and two of his businesses - Coffee on the Lake Ltd, which operates Caffe Cream, and WWR Projects Ltd, which operates the ice cream manufacturing unit called ‘The Doo Group’. Combined, they faced a total of 11 charges for contraventions of Food Safety and Hygiene Regulations.
In sentencing and fining both companies and the Director, the District Judge stated there had been ‘demonstrative behaviour’ with an ‘appalling and alarming rate of deterioration when it came to pest control’.
Coffee on the Lake Ltd, the defendant company for Caffe Cream of New Brighton, was fined £28,000, ordered to pay costs of more than £17,000 and a victim surcharge of £2,000.
WWR Projects Ltd, the defendant company of the ‘Doo Group’, was fined £30,000, ordered to pay costs of more than £16,000 and a victim surcharge of £2,000. David Dooley, as the director of both companies, was fined £2,800 plus a victim surcharge of £1,120.
The offences took place in 2023 and resulted from inspections carried out by Wirral Council Environmental Health Officers.
In the case of Caffe Cream of New Brighton, the inspection took place in March 2023 and evidence of mouse droppings were found at various locations throughout the food business, including inside a box with ice cream cones. It also identified a defect with the main entrance door at the café where the frame had a gap large enough to allow pests, such as mice, into the building.
The external pest control contractors reports for the cafe revealed that there had been an active pest problem at the café for some time. The inspection also found evidence of poor cleaning, issues over dating and labelling of food and concerns with some food hygiene practices.
The findings of the March inspection led to a warning letter being sent to the business summarising the findings of the inspection and awarding a food hygiene rating of zero (urgent improvement necessary).
A further inspection at the request of the company in July 2023 found that while some improvements had been made, there was still evidence of mouse droppings and that detailed cleaning was still required. The food hygiene rating after this inspection was one (major improvement necessary).
The case brought against David Dooley and WWR Projects related to the premises, The Doo Group, where 36 different flavours of ice cream are produced supplying a chain of cafes in Wirral and a restaurant in Liverpool, and was the result of an inspection in April 2023.
The case presented to the court showed that there had been a history of poor compliance in relation to the control of pests at the business since 2017.
The offences identified during the inspection related to the cleanliness and condition of the unit. There was risk of food contamination identified and there wasn’t adequate procedures in place to control pests, with mouse droppings evident throughout the premises.
The District Judge hearing the case agreed that the conditions found at both companies, for which the Director had control, put them in the highest category of potential harm – the conditions could have resulted in a serious, adverse effect on people, including people who are vulnerable, with the potential of widespread impact.
Due to the ongoing failings of both companies, they were also held to have high culpability, with the District Judge concluding that the Director had shown ‘wilful blindness’.
