Uber Eats suspends Oldham takeaway after poor hygiene score

In January, Friends Restaurant, in Hathershaw, was issued a one food hygiene rating due in part to its chef refusing to present Oldham Council’s inspector with its food safety management booklet.

The poor score has now resulted in Uber Eats informing the Ashton Road premises last Monday (April 15), that it would not be servicing the business until it received a rating of two or above – the same policy is held by Deliveroo, while Just Eats demands its clientele have at least a three.

Speaking about the impact that the rating has had on the business, owner Hivi Sadar said: “We’re losing a lot of money to be honest, for a week it’s about £4,000 from Uber maybe even more.

Donner and chicken kebab cooking at the Ashton Road establishment (Image: Newsquest)

“We can’t do anything else because we can’t do delivery, we just use Uber Eats, so when we received that rating we had a heart attack.

“We have very many customers who order from us near Oldham Hospital and it’s too far for them to pick up.”

The 36-year-old added: “We have been really quiet, we’ve had a few phone calls where people have asked why aren’t we delivering and we had to explain to them why.

“I have a family to support, two children aged 11 and 12, then five workers too, and of course the rent and all the bills – this has been really damaging to our business.”

Behind the bar the equipment and surfaces were sparkling clean when The Oldham Times visited (Image: Newsquest)

The council said in a statement last week that "significant issues" had been identified during the inspection, adding: “Council officers follow the strict Food Standards Agency Code of Practice when carrying out food hygiene inspections and issue the relevant rating."

The mother-of-two has criticised the authority for not sending an inspector to the business two months on from being given the low rating despite having paid £198 for reinspection.

Oldham Council promises to attend within three months of the booking, so an inspector is expected to visit in the coming weeks.

Earlier this month, The Oldham Times reviewed Friends Restaurant after it received its latest hygiene raying.

Mrs Sadar continued: “I keep calling the council for the last week, three times I called the council and still no one has been – until they come I can’t do anything about it.

The dessert corner was being created when the food inspector showed up (Image: Newsquest)

“It is tough because the staff are worried now, one guy just started two weeks ago. If this Uber Eats is not working then we will be out of business.

"Our income has more than halved, and it’s been two months since we paid £198 so they could come back and they still haven’t been.”

Replying to Mrs Sadar's comments, a spokesperson for the council added: “It is the responsibility of any takeaway owner to keep their premises clean and tidy. If they don’t they are potentially putting the health of Oldhamers at risk.

“Our inspectors found that this establishment only warranted a one-star rating. This was based on national recognised guidelines.

“Oldham has more than 1,900 registered food venues and we only have a small team of inspectors so we can’t be everywhere at once. The business will be reinspected within 12 weeks of the request, which is in line with Food Standards Agency policy. But this would never have been needed if the premises were clean in the first place."

They added: “It is the policy of the various food delivery services to remove low rated businesses. That is why it is important for takeaways to maintain high standards.”