THE director of a firm which runs a care home for the elderly has appeared in court charged with ignoring safety measures, including not having a working smoke alarm.
Shanmugasundaram Surendram, who works for Morven Healthcare Ltd - which runs the private Morven House in Uplands Road, Kenley - appeared at Croydon Crown Court on Monday after it was deemed the case was too serious to be dealt with at magistrates' court.
Morven Healthcare Ltd and Surendram are accused of ignoring seven enforcement notices issued to them by the London Fire Brigade (LFB) in February last year.
According to fire safety inspectors, the care home, which specialises in looking after elderly Alzheimer's and dementia patients, had not made a "sufficient fire risk assessment".
The order stated the care home had not put in any "preventative and protective measures" to make sure a fire did not break out and had failed to make sure there was "a suitable method of giving warning in case of fire".
Inspectors also found Morven House had not provided any adequate or "clearly indicated emergency routes and exits that lead to a place of safety". The order demanded the care home create an emergency plan or face a summons.
However, Surendram appeared at Croydon Magistrates' Court on March 26 but was sent to Croydon Crown on Monday charged with ignoring the LFB's demands that the care home put in a fire alarm, clear the fire exits and make sure smoke detectors were working.
The charges claim the failure to act on the fire safety order was done with Surendram's "consent or connivance or neglect".
The indictment also outlines how patients on the second floor would have no escape route and patients on the ground floor would find the fire exit partially blocked. Surendram, Dr Chatchithanantham Vivekananda and Dr Baskaran Balasubramaniam took over the care home from Dr Salma Uddin, the wife of disgraced Dr Ravi Sondhi, who also used to own the now closed Little Hayes home in Kenley.
Surendram was also made secretary of the company later that month but had the appointment terminated on April 8.
The defendant is also registered as being a director at four other companies and was once director of Ingleside Healthcare Ltd.
Morven House currently provides caters for 20 EMI elderly mentally impaired patients.
Dr Baskaran, a GP at Parkway Health Centre in New Addington, said: "This small fire issue has not affected the running of the home, it is all going very well. We have got permission from Croydon Council for an extension which is why there is scaffolding up at the moment."
A plea and case management hearing is set to take place on May 27.
