A COUPLE dreamed of a new life running a store together after miner David Johnson was made redundant from his job at a coal pit.

But now David and his wife Christine's hopes lie in ruins after twice breaching food hygiene regulations.

Christine has been banned for life from managing any food business and she and David have been left facing a £4,617.30 bill. The couple are also winding up their loss-making business, Yorkshire Stores Ltd.

York magistrates were told of rotting food at Huntington Village Stores in North Moor Road, which they used to manage but no longer have any connection with.

"They demonstrated a significant disregard for food safety and were a risk to public health," said Liz Levett, prosecuting for City of York Council.

"We have no intention at all of setting up any other business or going into the food trade or any other trade," Mr Johnson told the bench. "We have well and truly learned our lesson."

"I am thoroughly and utterly ashamed," said Christine Johnson about the dirty, mice-ridden, kitchen with decomposing food outlined in the latest court case. She was responsible for the day to day running of the shop.

She and Mr Johnson, on behalf of the company, each admitted five charges of breaching food safety regulations and were each fined £1,500, and must also pay £1,617 costs.

The couple, both 43, and both company directors, of Willow Rise, Thorpe Willoughby, still have £1,300 fines to pay from their first offence.

Mr Johnson brought the last coal out of Wistow Mine when it closed in May 2004. He used his earnings from 23 years as a deputy there to pay the deposit as they bought Huntington Village Stores.

But in June 2004, they sold workmen two beef and onion sandwiches. One had live maggots in it and both contained decomposing meat that was unfit for humans.

The company was fined £2,000 after admitting two food safety offences and ordered to pay £629.40 prosecution costs.

But the couple were back in court after a routine food safety inspection on January 19, 2006, led to City of York Council serving several improvement notices on them.

Ms Levett said the inspectors found signs of mouse infestation, decomposing food, dirt, debris, and mouldy ham in a chilled food cabinet that was unfit for consumption.

The couple sold the store in September 2006, a month after complying with the improvement notices.

David Johnson said the ham was not for sale. The company would be wound up as soon as it had paid all its bills. Even selling the store had not stopped it making a loss.

The couple declined to comment after the case.

Store now has 'highest standards'

SPICK and span are the watchwords at Huntington Village Stores now under new owner Liz Unsworth - and business is booming.

Mrs Unsworth said today she knew nothing about the Johnsons' court case when she bought the shop in good faith last September.

But her first action was to contact City of York Council food safety unit to ensure that her food service was up to the highest hygiene and health standards.

"We have got a lot of customers back who weren't coming into the store," she said. "A lot of people coming in say the store is clean." Two weeks after she moved in, the shop passed a food safety inspection with flying colours, she said.

"I have no connection with Yorkshire Stores Ltd and the practices in the store have now changed. The store is now run to a high standard of cleanliness," she said.

Mrs Unsworth said shop staff followed a daily routine which included checking fridge temperatures, ensuring all food was thrown out if it reached its use by date, stock rotation and other health measures. The shop also had pest prevention practices in place.