A town centre take-away boss has been spared jail after admitted breaching fire safety rules.

Nazam Ali, 31, who owns Cheshire Fast Food on Mill Street, Macclesfield, received a six month prison sentence suspended for two years after pleading guilty to nine breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

There was a fire at the takeaway in June 2011, when a woman had to be rescued from the upstairs flat.

Fire service bosses said an investigation revealed some serious failings in fire safety at the premises, fire service bosses said.

This included poor fire separation, blocked escape routes, a lack of firefighting equipment such as fire extinguishers, no emergency lighting and no linked fire alarm system that would have given early warning to those living in the flats if a fire was to break out in the shops below, Cheshire fire service has said.

Ali, of Machin Street, Stoke-on-Trent, was also sentenced ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and pay £1,000 in court costs at Warrington Crown Court on January 10.

Judge Nicolas Woodward described Ali’s actions as a “systematic failure to consider fire safety” and added that “the excuse of saying you cannot afford the measures needed was not good enough”.

Cheshire Fire Service said the blaze started in a grill at 10.25pm, traveled quickly through the building helped by a build up of grease and fat in the extraction ducting.

Speaking after the sentencing, Keith Brooks, Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service’s head of Community Fire Protection, said: “When the crews arrived they found that the woman was trapped on a second floor window ledge unable to escape from the fire that was burning below. She had been woken by her own smoke alarm but had been unable to get out on her own as the escape route was blocked. Mr Brooks added: “We welcome the sentence handed out by the court, as this was a serious breach of fire safety.”

Speaking after the hearing, Mr Ali said that he had since addressed all the fire safety requirements at the takeaway.

He added:?“This has been a big lesson for me .”

MJC Developments Ltd, who let out the flat and the shop, were fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £2,000 court costs.

The company, of School Street, Hazel Grove, pleaded guilty to three breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

No one at the firm was available for comment.