The former owners of an Arundel hotel have been fined following an investigation by the West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service.

The former management company of the White Swan hotel was fined £25,000, plus costs, after pleading guilty to serious breaches of fire safety laws. Ten guests were trapped in their bedrooms and had to be rescued from the first floor windows during the fire in March 2007.

The subsequent investigation revealed a catalogue of poor fire safety management, including

• a fire alarm panel which had been switched to”silenced” resulting in the fire alarm not being heard when the alarm operated.
• inadequate fire safety training for staff.
• fire alarms not being tested correctly.
• fire doors wedged open.
• no suitable fire evacuation plan for what to do in the event of a fire.

Mill House Inns Trading Ltd, owners of the hotel at the time of the fire, pleaded guilty to five separate charges and on each count and were fined the maximum allowed by Worthing Magistrates. In addition they also had to pay costs of £11,071.

The officer in charge of Community Protection for the fire brigade said that the hotel had the correct fire precautionary arrangements in place, but due to poor management they all became ineffective during the fire.