Pret A Manger: Cafe chain fined £800,000 after staff member gets stuck in freezer for more than two hours

Cafe chain Pret A Manger has been fined £800,000 after one of its staff members became trapped inside a freezer kept at -18C. The staff member was trapped in the freezer for two and a half hours before being discovered by a colleague at their Victoria coach station outlet in July 2021.

The worker was wearing just jeans and a T-shirt and had to be treated for hypothermia. She tried to stay warm by moving around in the freezer, but her condition quickly began to deteriorate.

Her breathing became increasingly difficult, and sensations in her thighs and feet started to fade. In an effort to shield herself from the cold air of the ventilator, she struggled to tear up a cardboard box filled with chocolate croissants, but her hands were too cold to break it apart.

After being rescued, an inquiry found a lack of a suitable risk assessment for employees working in environments with controlled temperatures. According to information from Pret’s reporting system, there were several instances over the last 19 months where it needed to address problems with broken or frozen push buttons.

In January 2020 in the same kitchen, another worker got trapped in the walk-in freezer because they couldn’t open the door from the inside as the internal door release mechanism wasn’t functioning properly.

On Tuesday (August 29) Pret pleaded guilty at Westminster Magistrates’ Court to an offence that contradicted the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Councillor Aicha Less, deputy leader and cabinet member for communities, public protection and licensing said: "The shocking details of this case show a lapse of due care and attention.

"This incident shows that overlooking basic safety measures can have the most serious consequences."

She added: "We hope the significant fine awarded in court acts as a warning, preventing this from ever happening again.

"Westminster City Council will continue to work with businesses to make sure the highest levels of health and safety are consistently maintained and educate staff in safe practice."