Coventry Council health chiefs have today revealed that a fast-food store that was fined because sewage had leaked into its basement has actually had the same problem two days earlier.

McDonald’s restaurant in Wigston Road, Walsgrave was fined £9,500 and £762 costs after pleading guilty to charges of failing to keep the restaurant clean, but the council claims it was not the first time it had happened.

Coventry Council’s environmental health manager Geoff Makin believes that the company has been very irresponsible.

He said:

"It did not come to our attention until the second incident, but this particular McDonald’s had actually had the same problem two days earlier and failed to act upon it.

"Not only did they not ensure that it was rectified, but they actually failed to dispose of the food and packaging that was in the basement store on that occasion.

"Somebody obviously made a calculate decision not to throw those items away and not to inform anybody, so when I read statements from them in the press saying that ‘nobody could possibly believe McDonald’s would deliberately do something of this kind’, it surprises me."

Officers from Coventry City Council’s Environmental Health Department were first alerted to the problem which led to the court case, after a member of the public complained that the toilets were closed.

The store was busy with young families during the half term holidays, and health officials telephoned McDonald’s to suggest that they should close if the toilets were blocked.

However, Mr Makin visited the outlet himself around half-an-hour later and was surprised that no progress had been made in dealing with the matter, and the basement was flooded with sewage.

He said:

"The problem began at about 10am and when I arrived at 2.30pm workmen were only just beginning to clear the drains, and the store was still open.

"McDonald’s used a company from Slough who have worked for them before, but it must have taken them hours just to get there.

"If they had used the City Council Drainage Team they would have been there in 20 minutes to clear up the problem, so they obviously did not see it as an emergency."

Once the officers established that the flooding had exposed food and food packaging to contamination they pointed it out to the management who agreed to close the store for cleaning.