COMPLYING WITH ACTS

Disabled access and facilities

Do consult the planning department regarding disabled access, space within the restaurant and toilets designed for wheelchair access. An existing restaurant in an eighteenth century building, for example, may not need to have a ramp but any new builds have to conform to disability laws.

Amendments to The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 which came into force in October 2004 require you to address any physical features which make it difficult to use your restaurant. These include:

• steps, stairways, kerbs;
• parking, exterior surfaces and paving;
• building entrances and signage;
• toilet and washing facilities;
• public facilities;
• lifts and escalators.

In some cases it may be unreasonable through cost or planning legislation to make these changes. Contact your local authority or the Papworth Trust: www.papworth.org.uk to find out about requirements, guide dogs for the blind and other issues that affect disabled people. For further information log on to www.disability.gov.uk

There are eight-and-a-half million disabled people in the UK, with one in four customers being disabled or close to someone who is. The following are recommended:

• Think and plan ahead to meet the requirements of your disabled customers.
• Don’t make assumptions about disabled people based on speculation and stereotypes.
• Communicate a positive policy to providing services to disabled customers and staff.

Sale of Goods and Trades Description

As a trader you must be aware of the Sale of Goods Act which implies that there is an unexpressed contract when you accept a customer’s order. The customer may either demand a replacement by right or refuse to pay. Some examples:

• If the goods don’t correspond with the description, eg, roast chicken which has been poached instead of being grilled.
• If artificial cream is offered instead of fresh cream.
• If the food is inedible.

Even if the customer has partly or wholly consumed the food it makes no difference. The Trades Description Act makes it a criminal offence to mis-describe goods or services. Watch out for the following:

• wording on menus and wine lists;
• describing food and drink to customers verbally;
• describing services, eg. cover and service charges or extras;
• describing services on offer.

The defence, if someone is charged under the Act, is to prove that reasonable precautions were taken and:

• the result of pure mistake;
• the result of information from someone else;
• the fault of someone else;
• the result of accident or other cause beyond the control of the person concerned;
• the person charged could not reasonably know the description was misleading.

For Trading Standards alcohol requirements see Chapter 10 (wine and other drinks).

Discrimination

The Sex Discrimination Act and the Race Relations Act both legislate against discrimination on grounds of colour, race, creed or sex.

• Refusing service to customers of particular colour, race, creed or sex.
• Refusing services by imposing unjustifiable conditions or requirements for these same groups of people.
• Victimisation via refusal of entry, providing a poor service to ethnic customers which is inferior to those offered to the general public, or which may only be available at a price premium.

The Hotel Proprietors Act

The hotel premises’ management is under no obligation to serve anyone unless customers are staying in a hotel or similar establishment. Reasons for refusal could be:

• There is no space left.
• The person is drunk.
• The person is under the influence of drugs.
• The customer is not suitably dressed.
• The person is a known trouble-maker.
• The person is an associate of a known trouble-maker.
• The person is under the legal minimum age for licensed premises or does not fit into the age policy set by the premises.
• Under the Licensed Premises (Exclusion of Certain Persons) Act 1980 the licensee has the right to refuse entry to people who are drunk, violent and disorderly, quarrelsome or appear unable to pay.
• It is an offence to sell intoxicating liquor to a drunk person or those under 18 years of age.

PRICE MARKING (FOOD AND DRINK ON PREMISES) ORDER 1979

Prices of food and drink must be displayed in a clear and legible way by persons selling food by retail for consumption on the premises, but this does not apply to members of a club or their guests, in staff restaurants or in guest houses, however communicative and civilised that would be. Private catering menus are also excluded but the following provisions must be taken into account.

Menu and a drinks list must be at the entrance or be able to be read from the street. If part of a complex, the list must be shown at the entrance to the eating area. Both food and drink must be included. Table d’hôte (set menu) prices must be given. VAT must be included and a service and/or a cover charge must be shown as an amount or a percentage.

In self-service premises where the customer chooses food, prices must be shown at the entrance unless they can be seen at the counter.

YOUR CHECKLIST

Ask yourself:

• Have you registered your premises?
• Do the design and construction of your premises meet legal requirements?
• Have you considered all the health and fire safety requirements?
• Do you and your staff understand the principles of good food hygiene?
• Have you and your staff had food hygiene training?
• Have you considered what food safety problems there could be at each stage of the business?
• Have you put the necessary food safety procedures in place and are you making regular checks to ensure they are working?
• Do you describe food and drink accurately?
• Do you need to apply for a licence to sell alcohol?
• Have you registered as self-employed?
• Do you need to register for VAT?
• Are you keeping records of all your business income and expenses?
• Are you keeping records of your employees’ pay and do you know how to pay their tax and National Insurance contributions?