Shell International Ltd was fined £300,000 and order to pay £45,000 costs after pleading guilty to serious breaches of the RRO. The London Fire Brigade prosecuted Shell following two small fires in the space of three weeks in January 2007 at the Shell Centre on York Road. An inspection was then carried out which found escape routes and Fire Exits blocked, defective Fire Doors and excessive fire loading. The fire loading had increased because of refurbishments taking place in the upper floors. The deficiencies were so severe that a prohibition notice was served, restricting the use of Shell Tower and basement levels. Under the notice only people working to remedy the fire safety deficiencies were allowed to enter those parts of the building, whilst staff and members of the public were prevented access until the areas were considered safe enough to occupy. It was also discovered that Shell’s own Fire Risk Assessment had not been reviewed or updated since March 2003. The 2003 fire risk assessment had identified some of the same failings that were observed during the inspection in 2007 and during the following years the general fire precautions in the Tower had deteriorated. Assistant Commissioner Steve Turek said, “Shell failed to respond properly to their risk assessment for three and a half years and had it not been for the fires which led to the inspection, it could have been considerably longer. Had Shell acted upon the findings of the 2003 risk assessment at the time, they would have avoided putting their staff at risk.”