Crisp packets 'sticky to the touch' with mouse urine found at 99p store

Crisp packets 'sticky to the touch' with mouse urine were found at a 99p store in south London. Hygiene inspectors visited the branch after a tip off from a member of the public who saw rodents running around.

Croydon Council visited two branches of the 99p Store at Crown Hill along with another store in North End. Inspectors also found rodent faeces and gnawed packets of biscuits on the shelves.

Representatives of both 99p Stores appeared at Croydon Crown Court where the company was fined a total of £154,000 after admitting seven breaches of food safety and hygiene laws.

Croydon Council says hygiene inspectors found:

• A ground-floor food storage area with fruit fly-infested rotting fruit, and the shopfloor found littered with debris, including food waste, beneath shelving units

• Shelving in the main warehouse contained mouse droppings, and there was a hole in the fire exit door whic allowed mice to get in

• A pest-control report, found by officers, showed that infestation had been a recurring problem

• At Crown Hill in October 2014 inspectors noticed a pervasive odour of mouse urine and found that packs of crisps on the shopfloor shelves were sticky to the touch, having been contaminated by mouse urine

• All food-storage shelves were found to have mouse droppings among the packaging, some of which showed evidence of having been chewed

Councillor Mark Watson, cabinet member for communities, safety and justice, said:

ITV News has approached Poundland, which has taken over the 99p store chain, for comment.