The owners of a mouse-infested restaurant have been forced to pay the courts £4,500 after droppings were found littering the eatery.

Trading standards officers found rodent faeces strewn across work surfaces, inside cupboards and food storage areas and on the kitchen floor of My Old China, Purley during a routine inspection.

The council team closed the restaurant immediately due to the droppings, which were also found in the staff washroom, and disgusting levels of grease and grime in food preparation areas.

They discovered that although the restaurant had once held a pest control contract, the last reported visit from their contractors was eight years ago.

The restaurant was allowed to re-open a week after the bust, which happened in October last year, after a follow-up inspection showed owners Mr and Mrs Chan had made great efforts to clean up.

But the trading standards team felt they had no option but to prosecute given the seriousness of the grime, which breached basic food hygiene regulations.

The couple pleaded guilty to three charges at Croydon Magistrates’ Court and were fined £1,000 for each, with £1,500 costs also awarded against them.

Mr Chan requested leave to repay the fine at the rate of £50 per week, but the magistrates demanded the full amount be paid within 90 days.

During the hearing, the lead magistrate told the court the problem could have caused a considerable outbreak of infection in the community.

Councillor Simon Hoar, cabinet member for community safety, said: “Food hygiene is the most basic thing that any restaurant business needs to understand.

“I’m sure that nobody seeing the pictures of the conditions in these kitchens would argue that it is completely unacceptable for food to be stored and prepared when there is such an obvious health hazard.

“I’m pleased to see the owners being taken to task and it should send a warning to others to keep their businesses up to standard or face prosecution.”