Chain could face closure for sale of non-essentials
Warning issued to The Range bosses:
OFFICIALS have warned The Range in Bridgend it could be closed for selling non-essential items.
Council workers gave an improvement notice to the homeware and garden retailer at Waterton Retail Park for selling nonessential items in store rather than via click and collect.
The Welsh Government website states businesses may operate a click and collect service for nonessential items regardless of whether their premises must be closed.
According to Bridgend County Borough Council officers from the Shared Regulatory Service (SRS) caught the store breaching Welsh Government guidelines on March 7 and gave staff 48 hours to comply.
Businesses are usually given 48 hours to comply with the terms of an improvement notice. Failure to comply can result in closure, a fixed penalty notice, or being taken to court.
A convenience store and mobile caterer were also given improvement notices for failing to comply with coronavirus regulations between March 6 and March 7.
Officials saw a member of staff at Meg’s Chill and Grill in Cowbridge Road, Waterton, serving a customer with neither of them wearing a face mask, according to a council spokesman.
Officers served a notice to Londis in Tondu on March 6 because the shop did not provide hand sanitiser at the store entrance/ exit. They also ordered the store to change the layout of the premises to enable social distancing.
A spokesman for the council said: “Under the current Covid-19 safety restrictions it is important that customers and staff in this type of setting wear face coverings and adhere to the two-metre social distancing requirement.”
The SRS, a partnership between South Wales Police and Bridgend, Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan councils, carries out checks on licensed premises to ensure they comply with government guidelines.
It has issued 85 improvement notices to businesses in Bridgend county borough and temporarily closed six for breaching Welsh Government coronavirus rules.
Bridgend council officials also caught six businesses breaching coronavirus regulations at the end of last month.
Council staff closed a pizza restaurant and gave improvement notices to five other businesses for failing to follow rules such as wearing face masks between February 23 and 27.
Officers from the SRS closed Pizza Choice, Bettws for two days after finding staff working without face masks on Tuesday February 23.
A council spokesperson said an improvement notice had previously been served on the business on February 14 for the same reason.
Officers also gave improvement notices to Pencoed Hand Car Wash (Penybont Rd), Eagle Auto Car Repairs (Ogmore Terrace), New Red Lantern (Wyndham St), and Katko Minimarket (Bethania St) during visits on February 23.
A document shared by Bridgend Council revealed Pencoed Hand Car Wash, was “not operating on a click and collect basis” and “some staff” were not wearing masks properly. It also stated staff were caught working without masks at Eagle Auto Car Repairs and New Red Lantern.
According to the council, there was a “lack of Covid safety measures in place” at Katko Minimarket, “including with regard to signage, provision of sanitiser and limiting the number of people allowed in the store at any one time”.
The manager of Pencoed Hand Car Wash said the service has been operating on a click and collect basis. They also said when the SRS visited the premises, there was only one member of staff wearing a mask with their nose uncovered but they suffer from athsma.
Authorities also served an improvement Tondu Car Wash (Maesteg Road) on Saturday, February 27 because the business was “not operating on a click and collect basis”.
Businesses are usually given 48 hours to comply with the terms of an improvement notice. Failure to comply can result in closure, a fixed penalty notice, or being taken to court.