Britain’s biggest private childcare provider has been given a record fine after inspectors found mouse droppings in the kitchen and the children’s play areas of one of its nurseries.

Busy Bees was fined £225,000 and £15,000 in costs by a court in London after pleading guilty to food safety and hygiene offences at its nursery in the grounds of Whipps Cross university hospital in Leytonstone.

The court heard that inspectors from Waltham Forest council found extensive evidence of mouse droppings throughout the kitchen, by the sinks and in a storeroom, as well as in the children’s playrooms.

The council used emergency powers to temporarily close the nursery after the inspection in January last year.

Busy Bees said it had brought in external contractors to look into the problems and quickly rectified them.

Khevyn Limbajee, Waltham Forest’s cabinet member for community safety, said: ‘When parents entrust their children to attend a nursery, they do so in the belief that they will be left in a safe and clean environment.

‘Young children are particularly vulnerable to diseases due to their developing immune systems.

‘The intervention from our team was crucial in preventing children from being exposed to hazardous conditions that could have impacted their health.’

Matt Labaki, operations director for Busy Bees, said: 'The health and safety of our children and colleagues is of paramount importance and we can only be satisfied if our standards meet the required levels.

'Once the issues had been identified we immediately brought in external contractors to address both issues that had been found and they conducted a complete review of our health and hygiene processes. Both issues were rectified within days.'

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