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A cleaning company is being sued for £1.7m after the fire that ripped through the Red and Rosso restaurants.
Court papers filed on behalf of the two companies which own the businesses say that the strong blaze on 21 January 2020 was caused by the ignition of grease deposits within the extraction canopies and ducting connected to a charcoal grill oven in the kitchen of Red.
Pictured: Emergency services at the scene of a fire that engulfed Red and Rosso Restaurants in January 2020.
The plaintiffs argue that the defendant, Q3 Services (CI Ltd), failed to clean them adequately and/or failed to advise anyone about problems accessing parts of the system and the risk of fire.
The claim being pursued in the Ordinary Division of the Guernsey Royal Court for £1,758,152.03 is being brought for breach of contract and negligence.
The plaintiffs had insurance with NFU Mutual and the claim includes a subjugated claim on behalf of the insurers for what they paid out under the policy.
Q3 has not yet filed its defences.
Pictured: Both Red and Rosso reopened after substantial building work which had been covered by insurance.
Formerly known as OCS One Complete Solution Ltd, the firm had been contracted to provide commercial cleaning services for Red and Rosso since 2012.
The last clean that was meant to happen prior to the fire was on 6 October 2019, and there should have been four since 2017.
However, the claim says, heavy grease deposits through the ducting system identified by an inspection after the fire, including accessible areas, indicated that some areas had not been cleaned either on 6 October 2019 or earlier.
Pictured: Rosso is on the St Peter Port sea front, next door to Red.
On 28/29 July 2018 the fire service had attended because of heavy smoke being emitted from the extraction system at Red.
They advised the-then Managing Director of Red and Rosso, David Matheson, that the ducting should be cleaned as a precaution.
The defendant was instructed to carry out that work.
Much of the claim is for the interruption to business, amounting to £1,429,440.
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