FIREFIGHTERS and council chiefs are calling on club-goers and businesses to help prevent dangerous overcrowding in York’s night spots.

Last week, Judge Geoffrey Marson said the fire risk at Kuda was “too awful to contemplate” when it allowed 1,300 people, double the safe number, to attend a popular event.

He handed out fines and other orders totalling £110,000 to the club’s owners Deltic Group Ltd and its door staff company Securigroup Services Ltd and a suspended prison sentence to its then manager Wayne Mason, 41, of Mill Lane, Kirk Ella, Hull.

All admitted fire safety breaches. The nightclub cannot operate without a licence from the council and was prosecuted by the fire service.

After the case Cllr Andrew Waller, City of York Council executive member, said: “We encourage everyone to report overcrowding or unsafe venues, so that we can continue to ensure that York remains a safe place for people to enjoy themselves.

“Where premises fail to follow the rules and care for the safety of their customers, we will act. ”

Watch manager David Lawrence, of North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “All of the parties involved were in a position of trust and responsibility. Considering the age of the occupants along with the consumption of alcohol, that responsibility was so much greater. As a service we provide free fire safety advice to businesses and the public.

“We engage with various trade organisations and individual businesses to raise awareness of best practice around fire safety."

He urged businesses to work with the fire service to ensure they got fire safety messages, understood them and acted on them.

The door staff company’s barrister Mark Harris told the judge it hadn’t appreciated its legal position regarding responsibility for overcrowding before the event in 2017.

He said that Kuda management had the final say on who could be door staff at the club.

Those on duty the night of the overcrowding had warned the manager the venue was becoming overcrowded, but were told to keep allowing people in.

Mr Harris said the company had now changed its procedures so that in a similar situation the door staff would refer the club’s manager to the company’s management.