The owner of an Indian restaurant in south Oxfordshire has defended his business after it was hit with a lowly one-star rating for food hygiene. 

Kolkata, an Indian restaurant on The Broadway in Didcot, was given the score by the Food Hygiene Agency following an inspection on August 7. 

Ali Hussain, who is the owner of the eatery and manages the day-to-day running of the business, said the rating was "unfair".

"They came on a day where we were short-staffed and busy. Sometimes when you are busy you are going to make a mistake," Mr Hussain told the Oxford Mail. 

"They caught us on a bad day.

"There were certain things that I felt were unfair, very much unfair."

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A score of one means 'major improvement' is deemed to be necessary at the eatery. 

For businesses to request a visit it costs £246, according to the South Oxfordshire District Council website, which Mr Hussain said he plans on doing. 

"Businesses are struggling, so for us to pay that is quite excessive. Unfortunately we have to find the money from somewhere," Mr Hussain said. 

"Hopefully I can get it back to a score of three or four."

Mr Hussain said he has since sat down with the inspector to discuss the rating. 

"I said I will work towards your requirements in every way possible," he said. 

"I will be the main food handler training and allergen wise, I've got myself booked in next week to get my level of training back up.

"With hard work I will get my stars up back to where it should be and I will be looking to have a revisit."

Mr Hussain said he has a food allergen course and a level four food safety and course booked in for next week. 

Business are rated on three categories: hygienic food handling, cleanliness and condition of facilities and building and management of food safety.

Hygienic food handling and the cleanliness and condition of facilities and building were rated as 'generally satisfactory' and 'major improvement' was found to be necessary for the management of food safety.

Defending his business, Mr Hussain said: "We get people from all over the country visit because of our sheer hard work. 

"We have no issues if people want to visit our kitchen and want to see before we eat.

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"I have every faith in my quality of food. To this day we've had no complaints with customers.

"If any customer wants to come into our kitchen and see for themselves I'm more than happy for that.

"I want to build up the business to where it should be again. We will look to build up our stars again.

"I've just got to find the ground now to get it back up and get it to where it should be."