B&M Retail has been fined £2 million after inspectors found mouse infestations across three Birmingham stores. Criminal fines of this kind cannot be covered by commercial insurance under UK public policy rules, though public liability, product contamination and business interruption cover can protect against related risks other retailers may face.
TL;DR · LAST REVIEWED 22 July 2026
- B&M Retail was fined £2 million at Birmingham Magistrates' Court on 13 July 2026 after pleading guilty to food hygiene offences at three Birmingham stores.
- Environmental health officers found mouse droppings and gnawed food products during inspections triggered by public complaints between November 2024 and October 2025.
- Criminal fines and prosecution costs cannot be covered by commercial insurance in the UK, since indemnifying a fine would undermine its purpose as a deterrent.
- Public liability insurance can cover compensation claims if a customer is injured or made ill, a separate risk from the fine itself.
- Product contamination cover, common in food retail and hospitality policies, can help with the cost of withdrawing or destroying affected stock.
- Business interruption cover can respond to lost trading income during a forced closure, though many policies exclude losses caused by the policyholder's own regulatory breach.
How commercial insurance typically responds to a food hygiene enforcement case
| Criminal fine and prosecution costs | Not insurable | UK public policy prevents indemnifying a criminal penalty |
| Customer injury or illness claim | Public liability insurance | Covers compensation and legal costs for third-party claims |
| Contaminated or destroyed stock | Product contamination cover | Common add-on for food retail and hospitality policies |
| Lost trading income during closure | Business interruption cover | Often excludes closures caused by the policyholder's own breach |
| Legal defence costs | Legal expenses cover | Varies by policy; not automatically included on every commercial policy |
Source: ABI guidance and Birmingham City Council, accessed July 2026
KEY FACTS
- Total penalty: £2 million fine, £18,104 prosecution costs and a £2,000 victim surcharge, all payable within 28 days
- Sentencing: Birmingham Magistrates' Court, 13 July 2026, B&M Retail Ltd pleaded guilty
- Stores affected: St Andrews Retail Park, Priory Square Shopping Centre and The Fort Shopping Park, all in Birmingham
- Investigation: Birmingham City Council's Environmental Health Service, inspections between November 2024 and October 2025
- A Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice was served at the St Andrews Retail Park store following the November 2024 inspection
Why was B&M fined £2 million
B&M Retail Ltd was fined £2 million at Birmingham Magistrates' Court on 13 July 2026 after pleading guilty to food hygiene offences found at three Birmingham stores, where inspectors discovered mouse droppings and gnawed food products on sale.
Birmingham City Council's Environmental Health Service investigated three B&M stores, at St Andrews Retail Park, Priory Square Shopping Centre and The Fort Shopping Park, following complaints and routine inspections carried out between November 2024 and October 2025. At the St Andrews Retail Park store, officers visited on 11 November 2024 after reports of pests and found significant evidence of mouse activity, including droppings and gnawed food packaging, leading to a Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice being served on the premises. A further inspection at the Priory Square store followed a member of the public reporting a mouse sighting in January 2025. B&M pleaded guilty to the offences, and the court ordered the retailer to pay a £2 million fine, £18,104 in prosecution costs and a £2,000 victim surcharge, all due within 28 days. Councillor Sam Forsyth, chair of Birmingham City Council's Licensing and Public Protection Committee, said the penalty reflected the seriousness of the offences and sent a clear message to businesses about food safety standards.
Can a business insure against a fine like this
No. Criminal fines and the associated prosecution costs cannot be covered by commercial insurance in the UK, since insuring against a fine would undermine its purpose as a punishment and a deterrent, a position confirmed by the insurance industry's own guidance.
This is a point worth understanding clearly, since it applies regardless of how comprehensive a business's insurance policy is. UK insurance practice and public policy treat a criminal fine differently from a civil claim for compensation: a fine is a punishment imposed by a court, and allowing an insurer to pay it on a business's behalf would remove the financial consequence the fine is meant to create, undermining the entire purpose of prosecuting food hygiene and similar regulatory offences in the first place. The Association of British Insurers' general guidance reflects this position, and it applies equally to prosecution costs directly tied to a criminal conviction. This means that no matter how much a business spends on commercial cover, a fine of this kind, and the costs directly ordered by the court alongside it, remain the retailer's own liability to pay in full, separate from anything an insurance policy might otherwise respond to.
What would commercial insurance actually have covered in this situation
Public liability insurance, product contamination cover and business interruption insurance could each respond to related risks arising from the same underlying pest problem, even though none of them would touch the fine itself.
Separate from the fine, a food hygiene failure of this kind can trigger several distinct insurable risks. Public liability insurance covers compensation and legal costs if a customer is injured or made ill and brings a claim against the business, which would be a realistic risk if contaminated food had reached a customer. Product contamination cover, a common add-on for food retail and hospitality policies, can help meet the cost of withdrawing, destroying or replacing stock affected by a pest infestation, alongside associated clean-up costs. Business interruption cover can, in principle, respond to lost trading income during a period when a store is forced to close, which is directly relevant here given the Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice served at the St Andrews Retail Park store. In practice, many business interruption policies exclude closures caused by the policyholder's own regulatory non-compliance, so whether this specific closure would have been covered depends heavily on the exact wording of B&M's own policy, something only the retailer and its insurer can confirm.
How does this compare with home insurance
The underlying principle mirrors home insurance closely: a homeowner fined for a statutory breach could not claim on buildings or contents cover to pay it, while liability cover on the same policy could still respond if a visitor was genuinely injured on the property.
For a business owner more familiar with home insurance than commercial policies, the comparison is a useful way to understand the distinction. Home insurance liability cover, typically bundled within contents or buildings policies, protects a homeowner if a visitor is injured at the property and brings a claim, in much the same way a business's public liability policy protects against a customer's injury or illness claim. Buildings and contents cover protects the physical property and its contents against damage, similar in principle to how commercial property and product contamination cover protects business premises and stock. What neither policy does, on the domestic or commercial side, is pay a fine imposed by a court for breaking the law, whether that is a homeowner fined for an unlicensed property breach or a retailer fined for a food hygiene offence. The insurable risk is always the consequence of an incident, such as an injury or damaged property, never the penalty for having broken a regulation in the first place.
What should other retailers do to reduce this kind of risk
Since the fine itself sits outside what any policy can cover, prevention through documented pest control contracts, regular environmental health compliance checks and staff training remains the only reliable way for a retailer to avoid this specific financial exposure.
Because a criminal fine cannot be transferred to an insurer, the practical lesson from this case is about prevention rather than cover. A documented, regularly serviced pest control contract, with dated records of inspections and any treatment carried out, gives a business evidence of due diligence if a problem is ever found, which can matter both for preventing an infestation in the first place and for demonstrating reasonable care if enforcement action follows regardless. Regular internal environmental health checks, ahead of and independent of any council inspection, allow a business to identify and address a developing pest problem before it reaches the scale seen in this case. Staff training on reporting pest sightings promptly, rather than allowing a report to sit unactioned, is a further practical step, given that at least one of the inspections in this case followed a member of the public raising a concern that reportedly had not been addressed internally first. None of this replaces appropriate commercial insurance for the risks it can genuinely cover, but it is the only protection against the fine itself.
RELATED GUIDES
DISCLAIMER
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal, financial or insurance advice. Business owners should check their own policy wording and, where relevant, seek advice specific to their circumstances before making decisions based on this content.
Frequently asked questions
Why can't B&M's fine be paid through insurance
Criminal fines cannot be covered by commercial insurance in the UK, since indemnifying a fine would remove the financial deterrent a court penalty is designed to create. This applies to the £2 million fine and the £18,104 prosecution costs ordered alongside it.
Would public liability insurance help a business in this situation
Public liability insurance would not cover the fine, but it could cover compensation and legal costs if a customer had been injured or made ill by contaminated food and brought a claim against the business, which is a separate risk from the criminal prosecution itself.
Does business interruption insurance cover a forced closure like this
It depends on the specific policy. Business interruption cover can respond to lost trading income during a closure, but many policies exclude closures caused by the policyholder's own regulatory breach, so coverage is not automatic in a case involving the business's own hygiene failings.
What is a Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice
A Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice is issued by environmental health officers when a food business poses an imminent risk to public health, and it can require the immediate closure of the affected premises or process until the risk is addressed.
How can a business reduce the risk of a similar fine
A documented, regularly serviced pest control contract, routine internal environmental health checks ahead of any official inspection, and prompt staff reporting of pest sightings are the main practical steps, since the underlying fine risk cannot be transferred to an insurer.
SOURCES
- Birmingham City Council press release – accessed 22 July 2026
- Association of British Insurers guidance – accessed 22 July 2026
- GOV.UK food hygiene ratings and enforcement – accessed 22 July 2026
