A CHINESE takeaway in Thame has been fined after council officers found mice droppings during a routine food safety inspection.

At Oxford Magistrates’ Court Novarra Limited, owners of Tommy Yaki, Wellington Street, Thame, pleaded guilty to four food safety offences.

As a result they were fined £2,400 and ordered to pay £1,876 costs.

Magistrates heard how, during a routine food safety inspection at Tommy Yaki on March 21, food safety officers from South Oxfordshire District Council found the premises littered with mice droppings.

The building also had construction defects that allowed pests to get into the premises, and important cleaning and pest control procedures had not been carried out.

Officers immediately closed the takeaway and it was given a food hygiene rating of zero, meaning 'urgent improvement' was necessary.

Following improvements, the takeaway reopened a week after the closure – and was recently inspected.

It has now been awarded a four-star food hygiene rating.

Tony Harbour, cabinet member for food safety and Environmental health at South Oxfordshire District Council, said: "I hope other food business learn from this example - if you are putting the public at risk we will not hesitate to take action."

A spokesman for SODC said council officers have revisited the premises a number of times to help Novarra Ltd with meeting their food safety requirements.

In sentencing Novarra Ltd on November 22, magistrates took the company’s guilty plea, and the financial difficulties it experienced as a result of having to close Tommy Yaki, into account.