A BUSINESSMAN has admitted failing to safeguard customers after a shopper injured herself after falling six feet through an open floor hatch in a convenience store.

Staff at Sweet Land News, in Head Street, Colchester, had opened the hatch in order to read the water meter in the shop’s basement before the accident.

One person was instructed to guard the hole, but had to leave the edge of the trapdoor to serve other customers.

Whilst she was away, a woman fell through the floor into the basement.

Zayad Muhsin, who is the sole director of Sweetland News Ltd, which was running the store at the time, admitted failing to discharge general health and safety duty to a person other than an employee when he appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

Rebekah Straughan, prosecuting for Colchester Council said the woman escaped with bruising but the injuries could have been worse when she fell on July 7 last year.

She said: “The fact she was not badly injured is a blessing, she could have been at risk of a fatality.

“She fell about six feet and had substantial bruising to her arms, legs, shoulder and lower back.

“There was a yellow sign on the edge of the hatch but it was warning people about window cleaning, not about the opening.”

Muhsin, of Hickory Avenue, Colchester, was not present when the accident happened.

Paul Roach, mitigating said: “A number of customers came in during the day and did their business.

“A member of staff was guarding the hatch but had to go and serve a member of the public.

“She walked exactly where the employee had been sitting and was injured.”

The court heard after the accident Muhsin, 34, introduced a policy where the hatch was only open when the store was shut.

Magistrates adjourned the sentencing until June 22 and asked for the firm’s accounts and Muhsin’s remuneration from the business to be presented so they can administer an appropriate fine.

The shop, which sells USA imported products, is still open, but has been taken over by another company and Muhsin is employed there as a cashier.