OWNERS of three more Bridgwater eateries given zero out of a possible five stars by food hygiene inspectors recently have voiced their frustration about the way the system works.

The co-owner of the Curry Leaf Indian restaurant in Bridgwater said he has been working closely with food hygiene inspectors since he was stripped of his four-star rating in November of last year.

Ballal Hassain says he was relegated to a zero rating for food hygiene and was told by the Sedgemoor District Council inspector to re-paint the walls and ceiling of his kitchen.

Mr Hassain was also told that two members of staff had food hygiene certificates that were expired and that they needed to be re-trained immediately.

Ballal told the Mercury: “We have worked with the inspector to do the work that needed doing.

“Everyone now has a food hygiene certificate that is indate, I have repainted the kitchen walls and fitted a PVC cover over the ceiling at a cost of £2,500.”

Since November, food hygiene inspectors have visited the Curry Leaf several times to ensure all points made in the original inspection were addressed properly.

He said: “My business has really suffered these past few weeks and trade is down.

“I am waiting for them to contact me to book a re-test but I have heard nothing for weeks.

“It is unfair. They seem to have the manpower to take the rating down to zero but when the time comes to reinspect and improve the rating again they are short on officers who can do this.”

Nurmiah Choudhury is the owner of the Moghul Indian takeaway in St John’s Street.

He was stripped of his fivestar rating in October 2014 after an inspector found that his paperwork was not up-todate and his store cupboard ceiling was leaking.

He said: “The reason why I was behind on the paperwork is simply because I ran out of copies of the documents I need to fill in and the website to download them from was broken.

“I had no way of getting more of the blank paperwork sheets to fill in and so naturally I could not do it.

“The leak in the store cupboard was fixed immediately.

“I have worked here for 19 years and spent half of my time in the kitchen serving the people of Bridgwater and not once have I ever had a complaint about the quality of my food.

“Lots of people know me in the town and now because of this zero rating my trade has suffered and people look at me in the street as if I have committed a crime.”

Further along St John’s Street, the manager of Deniz Kebab, Dino Balanur, said he welcomed anyone to come and inspect his kitchen.

Deniz Kebab was given a zero rating in November last year because of building repairs that needed his attention.

Dino said: “I have done everything required of me and I welcome anyone to come in and inspect my kitchen for themselves because I have nothing to hide.”

All three business owners said that, like the Globe Inn and China Palace mentioned in last week’s Mercury, they are also struggling to get a reinspection with Sedgemoor District Council to clear their business’s name and hopefully boost their ratings.

They all say they are awaiting a re-inspection but getting the inspectors to commit to a date is proving to be nearly impossible.

Last week Sedgemoor District Council told the Mercury that once a business has made the required improvements and sent off the paperwork asking for a reinspection this should be done within three months but there was a limited number of inspectors.