Zam Restaurant Ltd, trading as Shahenshah on Wilmslow Road, was found guilty in the owners' absence of six food hygiene charges during a case at Manchester Magistrates Court last week. They were fined a total of £5,000 – the maximum possible fine – for each offence and ordered to pay £1,266.51 costs. The eatery was given 28 days to pay the bill. A City Council environmental officer visited the restaurant last month and discovered infestations of mice and oriental cockroach – which are one inch long and can fly several metres – as well as filthy conditions in the kitchen and food storage areas. The officer immediately closed the restaurant, not allowing it to reopen until five days later when the infestations had been dealt with and the premises had been properly cleaned. After being shown photographs of the premises, the magistrates' bench said it was one of the worst cases of its type they had ever seen. Councillor Jim Battle, deputy leader of Manchester City Council, explained: "This is one of the biggest fines that's ever been handed to a restaurant owner in the city. The size of the fine represents how seriously these offences are treated. Keeping a restaurant in such a filthy, vermin-infested state shows a wanton disregard for the health of the Manchester residents and visitors to the city who eat there, and this fine should send out a clear message that this sort of practice will not be tolerated and restaurant owners will be prosecuted."