Restaurant from The Trip fined £16k after best man has severe allergic reaction

27 September 2023 , 21:19

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Hipping Hall Hotel (Image: Daily Record)

A renowned country house hotel that featured in The Trip with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon has been fined £16,000 after a severe allergic reaction incident at a wedding.

Despite being informed about the allergies of three guests, the staff served canapes contaminated with nuts, causing the best man to go into anaphylactic shock. Following an investigation by environmental health officers at Lancaster council, Casterton Leisure Limited, the operator of the hotel, pleaded guilty to one offence under The Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013. The case was heard at Blackpool Magistrates' Court where the company was ordered to pay more than £23,000 in fines and costs.

Hipping Hall featured in the first series of The Trip with Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan

District Judge McGarva, while passing the sentence, stated that there was a wholesale failure by the company on what should have been one of the best days of the family's lives. He added that the operator fell far below expectations, the family did everything they could, and there was a realistic risk of death. Casterton Leisure Limited was fined £16,000 plus a victim surcharge of £190 and ordered to pay costs of £7,071.41, The Manchester Evening News reported.

Councillor Joanne Ainscough, the cabinet member responsible for Environmental Health and Enforcement, said: "All businesses have a fundamental duty to their customers to ensure that the food they provide is safe to eat. This includes catering for those with allergies, intolerances or coeliac disease. While our environmental health officers are committed to working with food businesses to help them comply with the statutory duties placed upon them, the council will not hesitate to take enforcement action when food safety and hygiene breaches occur and may result in severe illness or death."

Hipping Hall, which featured in the first series of The Trip, a BBC comedy where Coogan and Brydon played fictionalised versions of themselves touring restaurants across the north of England, ceased operations in July this year.

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Damon Wilkinson