A restaurant owner has been ordered to pay out more than £5,000 after a one-inch (2.54 cm) nail was discovered in a takeaway meal.
A customer discovered the bent nail in a mouthful of chicken balti which, it is believed, was left uncovered while decorators worked in the restaurant in Wareham, Dorset.
Warish Ullah, 45, of the Rajpoot Tandoori Restaurant in North Street, had denied selling a dish which failed to comply with food safety requirements on 1 February, 2002.
At the end of a two-day hearing at Bournemouth Crown Court, he was fined £750 and ordered to pay £5,107 in prosecution costs.
'History of non-compliance'
The court heard that a Sandford Lane resident had telephoned the restaurant and ordered the meal which she collected and served up at home to her young daughter and a friend.
The friend was nearing the end of the meal when she discovered the nail in a mouthful of food.
A complaint was made to Purbeck District Council's environmental health section and officers carried out an inspection of the restaurant's food preparation area.
They found a decorator was renovating the ceiling of that part of the restaurant where there was food and foil meal containers without lids.
Glen Harding, Purbeck council's legal services manager, said: "The council thoroughly investigates food complaints but only prosecutes when it considers that is the most appropriate course of action in the circumstances.
"Given a previous history of non-compliance, the council considered it appropriate to prosecute.
"The court's judgement in this case vindicates that approach."
