Real-life Basil Fawlty JAILED for running worst guesthouse in the UK
A HOTEL boss dubbed the real-life Basil Fawlty has been jailed today for running the UK's worst guesthouse, described as a "death trap".
Peter Metcalf, 51, spent seven years running his 90-room seaside hotel which had caved-in ceilings, disabled smoke alarms and fire exits nailed shut.
The guesthouse, once labelled a "thriving grand estate hotel" with its own ballroom, had a string of safety hazards and left people living in squalor.
The New Kimberley Hotel in Blackpool, Lancashire had an illegal electricity supply, no running water in half of the building and no evacuation plan.
At Preston Crown Court, Metcalf was found guilty of 15 breaches of fire and safety regulations and given a record 18 months in jail and fined £5,243.
People have joked it was like Fawlty Towers but it was much worse than that
Judge Anthony Russell QC told him: "Attempts to speak to you had been made but you had been obstructive and threatened legal action.
"It appears your attitude was that people were living there for free and they were grown adults and if they did not know the situation that was their problem.
"It shows to me a callous disregard for the safety of people living in this premises for which you were responsible. They were appalling conditions.
"This is an exceptionally bad example of breaches of this regard."
Metcalf had first provoked outrage in 2006 by hosting three British National Party (BNP) conferences.
He also hosted a "celebration event" after BNP leader Nick Griffin and a colleague were elected to the European Parliament.
The BNP conferences sparked a string of environmental health investigations when Metcalf allowed his greasy and grimy kitchen to become a health hazard.
Last March, his tenure as the hotel's boss ended in a raid on the premises by fire brigade officials.
They uncovered the string of safety horrors which included the front door fire exit having a large cylinder of petrol next to it.
Walls with mould, rooms filled with debris and chairs and microwaves lying in the building's narrow hall were also discovered.
At one stage the hotel, where its four guests paid £50 a week for residency agreements, was such a wreck it was believed to be empty and derelict.
One of the tenants, who did not want to be named, said: "The hotel was horrendous but it was just cheap and I was paying cash.
"When I came here first it was fine, but since I moved back in it's gone totally downhill.
"People have joked it was like Fawlty Towers but it was much worse than that."
In 2008, Metcalf was fined for 20 food hygiene offences and the following year Blackpool Council revoked the hotel's alcohol and entertainment licence.
He was then back in court during 2010 and given a suspended jail term for 13 food hygiene charges.
Prosecutor Joseph Hart told the court the residents of the hotel would have encountered a series of death traps in an emergency.
He said: "There was not one fire exit that had not been nailed shut, chained shut or blocked with broken beds.
"The front door, the only solitary exit, had by it half empty can of cooking gas.
"This near a wood lattice framework. The only way out had a potential explosive by it."
