A CAKE-maker had two fingertips cut off as she cleaned a dangerous icing machine at an Oxford bakery, magistrates were told.

Paulina Lleshi, 24, from Oxford, saw the fingertips “pop out of the top” of the equipment as she heard a noise and felt something wrong with her hand.

The company which used to run the bakery, at the Nuffield Industrial Estate, in Ledgers Close, Littlemore, was ordered to pay more than £8,000 in fines and costs after admitting two charges under the Health & Safety Act.

Oxford Magistrates’ Court heard on Friday that Mrs Lleshi was cleaning the machine after using it to ice sponge cakes on January 22.

Spread Newco Four Ltd, of Blackburn, Lancashire, which has since sold the bakery, admitted liability for the incident, acknowledging that there had not been proper safety guards on the machine.

They also admitted that a full risk assessment had not been completed on the machine.

Health & Safety Executive inspector Matthew Lee, prosecuting, said: “As part of the cleaning process the trough was partially filled with warm water and as she was cleaning it she pushed her left hand up the channel. The size of the channel allowed her fingers to make contact with the revolving auger.

“The tips of the middle and ring finger on her left hand were amputated up to about the nail bed.”

Surgeons at the John Radcliffe Hospital attempted to reattach the fingertips, but were unsuccessful.

Investigators found that the machine should have had more bars over it, to prevent someone's hand getting close to the revolving parts.

Presiding magistrate Brian Carter said that as a specialist catering company, Spread Newco should have been aware of the risks of the machine.

He ordered the firm to pay £3,000 in fines for each of the two offences, along with £2,736 in prosecution costs and a £15 victim surcharge, a total of £8,751.

Polish-born Mrs Lleshi, from Oxford, was off work for four months but returned to work at the bakery for its new owners.