Travelodge have admitted breaching fire safety laws at their hotel in Horley, following a successful prosecution by West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service.
The hotel chain was fined £13,000 and forced to pay £6,500 costs at Haywards Heath Magistrates Court on Friday, 14 September 2012, after being found guilty of seven changes under the Regulatory Reform order 2005.
Court proceedings were initiated by West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service after fire crews were called to extinguish a blaze on the ground floor of the six-storey hotel on Povey Cross Road in September 2011. When Fire Safety Officers attended the hotel, which was being refurbished at the time of the fire, they were so concerned by the inadequacy of the fire safety measures that a Prohibition Notice was instantly served preventing anyone from staying at the hotel.
 

 
The seven contraventions were:

• An inadequate fire alarm system
• Failure to review their fire risk assessment
• Inadequate fire safety training for staff
• No planning, organisation, control and monitoring of fire prevention and protection measures
• Failure to properly maintain fire safety equipment
• Obstruction of escape routes
• Blocked fire exits