The operator of a Chinese takeaway in Walton has been fined £15,000 for 'ignoring' Elmbridge Council's warnings about its poor hygiene standards.

Skylay Ltd, which operates the Imperial Bridge Chinese takeaway in Church Street, plead guilty to eight hygiene food offences at Redhill Magistrates' Court on October 18.

Council officers had carried out a routine food hygiene inspection on July 13, and found evidence of poor hygiene standards, comprising "a general failure to implement a suitable food safety management system, potential cross contamination issues, poor structural maintenance and a lack of adequate cleaning throughout."

The court had heard that Skylay Ltd had ignored the council's previous warnings about its poor standards and "failed to follow detailed support in order to help them improve".

The company was slapped with a £15,000 fine, a £170 victim surcharge and was ordered to pay the council full costs of £1,642.

A council spokeswoman said the takeaway had worked "extremely hard" to turn around its poor standards, achieving a four star rating at its most recent inspection in October.

Councillor Barry Fairbank, portfolio holder for environment said: "Officers from the Council’s food and safety team, work very hard to support and advise business on good hygiene practices.

"The vast majority of the food businesses receive the top food hygiene ratings of 'very good' (5) and 'good' (4) and there is no reason why all businesses cannot achieve these ratings.

"The food officer’s role is to protect the public and where poor hygiene standards are observed and unfortunately satisfactory improvements are not made, then legal action will be considered as in this case.

"The subsequent improvement to a food hygiene rating of 4 demonstrates not only how hard the business has worked, but also the improvement our food and safety officers can bring about when businesses work with us."