A FOOD wholesaler which had no proper health and safety plan at its warehouse has been ordered to hand over more than £60,000.

And Nilesh Chavda, one of the directors of N&B Foods Ltd, has also been told to pay £2,500 costs and put on a conditional discharge for neglecting his duty to protect staff.

Alan Fuller, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court the firm is a food services company supplying both the catering business and the public.

It employs more than 50 people at its warehouse on the Rivermead Industrial Estate where it operates day and night, six days a week, he said.

Officers from the borough council carried out an inspection at the premises on November 25, 2014, and found a number of issues.

The operations manager in charge had not been properly trained in health and safety, he said, and there was no proper risk assessment for forklift truck operations.

Workers did not have high visibility jackets, especially important on the night shift, drivers had not been properly trained and keys were often left in trucks.

There were also issues with records for the racking, which is the shelving in a warehouse, and the use of 'man-up cages' and harnessing for working at height and risk assessment for lone workers in the freezer.

Mr Fuller said that during a follow-up visit in December it was noted that a key had been left in a forklift truck, but no one admitted responsibility.

When inspectors asked to view CCTV they were told no one knew how to operate it and when they returned two days later there was nothing on it, he said.

The court was told that both the company and 37-year-old Chavda, who was listed as the safety director, were invited for interview but declined to attend.

N&B Foods Ltd and Chavda, of Rosedale House, Purton Road, admitted Health and Safety offences between November 25, 2014 and January 21, 2015.

A charge of perverting the course of justice relating to Chavda alleging the wiping of the CCTV, which he denied, was dropped after the guilty pleas were entered.

The court heard that though they had no convictions the company had received warnings about forklift truck safety at their Reading base in 2012 and a year later Swindon Borough Council warned them about risk assessments.

Tom Horder, for N&B, said they had been in operation since 1984 and had no convictions, accidents, or near misses in more than 30 years.

The firm was going through a transition period at the time with a new operations manager and the Swindon base was not being run as it should be, for which the directors apologise.

Although turnover was almost £16m in 2016 he said margins were very tight, less than half a per cent, and profit was just over £70,000.

Alxander Stein, for Chavda, said that while his client was listed as safety director he only actually joined the board this year.

He said that he had a four-month-old twins and a four-year-old and a large mortgage which he paid from his £40,000 salary.

Passing sentence Judge Tim Mousley QC said: "These constitute multiple breaches. Some of them are not as serious as is often the case but this does not get round the fact that these were widespread breaches.

"The point is made, and it is well made, that there were no actual accidents or near misses and that is an important factor and I bear that in mind.

"I have to look behind that and consider the potential for accidents. The company had been warned on two previous occasions about their processes, in 2012 in Reading and 2013 in Swindon.

"The risks to the employees seem to me to be this. Firstly a risk of being struck by vehicles, risk of falls from man up cages, risk of being struck by objects.

"That sets out the extent of the company's failings in relation to health and safety issues."

He fined the company £56,250 with £7,500 costs and put Chavda on a two year conditional discharge with £2,500 costs.