Tylney Hall hotel fined £40,000 for poisoning guests

Guests at the 112-bedroom,​four-red-AA star property under the Elite Hotels portfolio were struck down with food poisoning in December 2010, Aldershot Magistrates Court was told. Hart District Council received complaints from13 diners attending the party, with symptoms of nausea, flu and diarrhoea.

Tylney Hall hotel admitted five food hygiene charges, including two instances of placing unsafe chicken liver parfait on the market, selling cheese after its use-by date, and failing to ensure that food handlers were supervised, instructed and trained in food hygiene matters.

Sincerest apologies​

Graeme Bateman, managing director of Elite Hotels, said: “This is the first incident of its kind since Tylney Hall opened over 25 years ago and we offer our sincerest apologies to the customers affected.

“We treat compliance with Food Hygiene Regulations extremely seriously and have a robust management system in place to ensure good practice and due diligence in achieving and maintaining the highest standards.

“While we deeply regret this incident, we do feel that as a long standing business with an impeccable and unblemished record, more could and should have been done by the Local Authority to support the hotel in respect of this incident which occurred over 12 months ago.

“The company’s significant contribution to the local economy and community over the years and support of numerous local organisations and charities appear to have been overlooked.”

The hotel owners were ordered to pay £35,900 in fines and a further £4,000 in costs. They were told the fines would have in excess of £50,000 had they not been given a 33-per-cent discount for pleading guilty.