The Coventry firm has fined people thousands after the customer’s terrifying fall at The Pilot pub

A Coventry company and an associate director have been hit with a huge fine after a customer fell down the stairs in a pub basement. Coventry City Council said the unidentified victim is still feeling the effects of injuries sustained during the horrific two-year-old fall.

The member of the public visited The Pilot in Burnaby Road on 12 February 2022 and made his way around the pub in an attempt to find the toilets. But they accidentally walked through an unlocked staff door – they weren’t stopped though.

He led the customer down the staff corridor to another door, which led directly to what was described as “steep stairs” to a disused basement. They fell and suffered injuries to both their faces and bodies.

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The company, Pilot Entertainment Ltd (PEL) and director, Gulrez Akhtar, pleaded guilty to a number of charges at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on 23 February, it was announced today, Tuesday 28 May. On May 20, the company was fined in pounds sterling. 16,750 and was ordered to pay investigation costs of £12,883.85 and a victim surcharge of £1,670.

Mr Akhtar, in his role as a company director, was separately fined £933 and ordered to pay additional investigation costs of £12,883.85 and a victim surcharge of £93. Following the incident, the council said the business has now put extra checks in place as well as training for staff to prevent a similar incident from happening again.

The headquarters was taken over in April 2023 by another company and is no longer managed by PEL. Officers from Coventry City Council’s food and safety team, who were behind the investigation, said they found a number of faults with the business.

These related to their responsibilities to ensure that non-employees are not exposed to risks to their health and safety. Team members said that if the business had put adequate and sufficient controls in place, the accident would not have occurred.

In court, PEL pleaded guilty to failing to carry out its undertaking to ensure, as far as was reasonably practicable, that non-employees – such as customers – were not exposed to health or safety risks their. Mr Akhtar, as a director of the company, pleaded guilty because the accident occurred because of his inadequate attention to health and safety while running the business.

Davina Blackburn, strategic lead for regulation at the council, said: “This case highlights the importance of businesses taking health and safety seriously and how simple control measures can have a big impact on keeping both staff and customers safe of customers.

“It is important that businesses keep health and safety as a priority and seek additional help to ensure they meet all legal requirements if necessary. In particular, pubs have a duty to ensure that their customers are not exposed to risk while using their premises.”

Cllr Abdul Khan, deputy leader of the council, added: “Health and safety offenses are serious and the courts have sent a strong message that keeping people safe is vitally important. People who have health and safety concerns should report them.”

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