A CURRY house which served up cockroaches in its food has been forced to pay out over £2500 after being prosecuted for three separate food safety offences.

The Radhuni in Flackwell Heath was investigated in August last year after a customer got more than they bargained for and found one of the insects in their takeaway.

Wycombe District Council’s Environmental Health team closed the business after the incident due to the imminent risk posed by an infestation of cockroaches in the kitchen.

The restaurant on Straight Bit had received at least one complaint from customers before and was found to be trading despite the infestation.

The owners, Mr Akthoraz Miah of Green Crescent, Flackwell Heath and the company Raj Kamal Restaurant Limited pleaded guilty to three offences.

The restaurant was fined £1000, and ordered to pay a further £1500 in costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

Aylesbury Magistrates Court was shown evidence including a jar of cockroaches taken from the restaurant, and heard that the premises had a poor history of compliance with food safety law.

This included several hygiene improvement notices being served on The Radhuni and previous pest problems with rats.

Aggravating factors included the fact that Mr Miah and his staff had received food hygiene training and were therefore fully aware of the health risk posed by cockroaches.

Despite this they chose to continue trading instead of eliminating the health risk to customers at their 110-seater restaurant.

The Radhuni were contacted for a response to the prosecution, but no comment had been received at the time of going to press.

Councillor Jean Teesdale WDC cabinet member for wellbeing and neighbourhoods said: "People need to be able to trust that the food they are served has been stored and prepared in clean and safe conditions.

"We work hard to ensure that decent food hygiene standards are maintained in food establishments."

The Radhuni currently has a rating of two, which means ‘improvement necessary’.