A RESTAURANT in North Yorkshire was shut down for three days due to a rat infestation.

Hambleton District Council took the emergency action when officers visited the premises - which the council said cannot be named as it is still under a legal investigation - and found rat droppings and dirty conditions.

Environmental Health officers carried out an unannounced inspection of the business last month after receiving a customer complaint.

They not only found evidence of an active rat infestation but also saw food debris on the floor and grease on equipment.

Fresh rat droppings were found on the wooden boards used to serve burgers to customers, under the cooking range in the kitchen, in the dry store and in the cellar.

Officers, satisfied that an imminent risk to health existed, served a Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice, which closed the premises with immediate effect. Notices were placed on the entrance doors and an application for a Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Order was made to Northallerton Magistrates' Court.

Cabinet member, Councillor Stephen Watson, said: “The business operator had employed a pest control firm to treat the infestation in January but it had been unsuccessful – with the company failing to adequately proof the building to prevent re-infestation."

However two days after the business was closed a further inspection by officers found that a second pest control firm had been employed and that treatment had been successful with the premises proofed against re-infestation.

The premises had also been thoroughly cleaned and disinfected.

Northallerton Magistrates Court ordered the food business to pay the council’s court costs of £1,198 and told the owner that had the conditions continued an order would have been made to keep the premises closed until remedial action to remove imminent risk had been taken.