A STORE owner who ignored repeated orders to improve health and safety for his staff and customers will have to pay more than £28,000 for 10 violations which could have caused serious injuries.

Mohammed Sharif's offences included leaving an open lift shaft unprotected and allowing employees to climb on unstable shelves.

He was caught out a day after he opened Sharif and Sons supermarket, in Pear Tree Road, Normanton, on September 13 last year, by a chance visit from a Derby City Council health inspector.

She came to the area to assess a neighbouring butcher's but was forced to intervene when she saw a fork-lift truck operating near customers in the store's car park.

Five days later, on a scheduled visit, the inspector photographed some of Sharif's 11 staff climbing to get stock on 15ft-high shelving that was not properly bolted to the ground.

Sharif, of Arden Road, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to all 10 violations at Derby and South Derbyshire Magistrates' Court yesterday.

Prosecuting for the council, Nicola Rogers said: “The contention of the prosecution is that the store wasn't in a fit state to be opened at the time that it was.

“There were no deaths and there were no injuries but there was a potential for serious personal injury.”

Ms Rogers said the health and safety inspector had taken action after noticing the fork-lift truck operating near customers and their vehicles.

She said: “It was chaos. An HGV arrived and she had to stop it from coming and close the car park.”

The inspector entered the store and found further violations, including an open lift shaft with stock nearby.

She also found no lighting on the stairs or in the first-floor stockroom, and staff accessing items on a 15ft-high shelf with 10ft and 6ft ladders.

The inspector served five prohibition notices, which ban activities that could cause injury.

But over the next two months, regular visits revealed repeated breaches of the orders.

On four occasions, the inspector found items on the stockroom's top shelves had been changed, proving that staff had been accessing it without proper safety measures in place.

Ms Rogers said that, on September 18, first one member of staff and then two were seen and photographed climbing the unstable shelving.

Mitigating, David Cusack said Sharif commuted to work each day and was responsible for the income of his wife and six children.

Mr Cusack said Sharif had decided to open when he did because the Muslim festival of Ramadan on September 14 would bring extra custom.

He said: “Mr Sharif admits it was wrong to open when he did and is very remorseful.”

Sharif was fined £24,500 for the violations and £4,230 in costs.

All five prohibition orders have now been lifted, but the health and safety inspector has scheduled a further visit because, among other issues, a mouse infestation had been found in a storeroom.

John Tomlinson, the city council's assistant director of environmental health, said: “Where safety standards fall below an acceptable level, we will use legal powers to protect people.”