A WESTON fast-food shop was found ‘black with engrained dirt’ and with staff neglecting to wash their hands after handling raw meat, a court was told.

The former owner Ocean Grill, of Alexandra Parade, has been sentenced to a 12-month community order and been told to pay more than £2,000 in legal costs.

Servet Cicek, originally from Turkey, pleaded guilty to three personal offences and seven company offences relating to the hygiene and safety of the now-closed takeaway shop.

The case was brought by North Somerset Council’s food hygiene department on the former director of Gemo Ltd, which has since closed.

Prosecutor Emma Anderson told the court how in December 2012, a food hygiene inspection found the premises to be ‘greasy and dirty’.

She explained that salad and cans of drink were stored next to the raw meat, risking infection, and the hand-washing area was dry, dirty and without hand soap.

A health inspector noticed serving staff handling raw meat and salad without washing his hands in between.

Meat and cheese were not stored at a safe temperature, the court was told, while toasters were described as being ‘coated in old grease’ and the work surfaces covered in ‘old food’.

Mrs Anderson said: “The cooking range was dirty and greasy as well as the floor. The floor was black with engrained dirt.”

The court was told one dirty cloth was used to clean every surface, and was sometimes only cleaned every three or four days.

Cicek, who lives in London with his pregnant wife, has been made bankrupt and now relies on his wife’s income and state benefits.

Mr Hass, defending, said: “His business was poorly run, which led to its doom.

“Mr Cicek fully accepts the facts of this case, accepts a business should not run this way and is apologetic to the court. He describes this business venture as the worst thing that has happened to him.”

The court heard the defendant felt the Mercury’s expose of the shop’s zero-star council health rating ‘resulted in significant loss of business’.

Cicek has been ordered to serve 250 hours of unpaid community work, a six-month curfew with electronic tag and was told to pay £2,658 of court costs as well as a £60 victim surcharge.

Ocean Grill has since closed, and has been taken on by new management and is now operating under a new name.