Bar slapped with huge fine as disturbing footage emerges
A Sydney bar has been slapped with a $10,000 fine after it failed to prevent dozens of patrons dancing freely together.
Shocking CCTV footage shows revellers mingling at Odyssey Bar Restaurant in Leichhardt in a direct breach of COVID-19 restrictions outlined by the chief health officer last month.
Liquor & Gaming's Dimitri Argeres branded the scenes a "complete disregard for social distancing" revealing it resulted in two $5000 fines.
"It's hard to fathom how staff could have failed to notice and stop things getting out of hand as patrons had in effect created multiple dance floors," Mr Argeres said in a statement.
The fine comes as a team of 30 inspectors from the NSW Department of Customer Service returned on Wednesday to southwest Sydney for a second Covid safety blitz after almost 100 breaches were detected at hospitality venues last Friday.
The inspections in Sydney's southwest are part of a joint blitz by authorities checking for Covid safety breaches in the lead-up to the festive season.
Of the 74 hospitality venues inspected, 13 were not registered as Covid Safe, 39 did not have a current safety plan, 20 had issues with record keeping, seven were not properly adhering to social distancing, two had hygiene issues and 13 had no Covid-19 safety marshal.
"One venue had not registered as Covid Safe, had no safety plan, had not recorded any patron details since July, had no conditions of entry and had not spaced seating and tables to allow for physical distancing," Mr Argeres said.
More blitzes are planned for across NSW in the coming months to keep the public safe during the festive season.
Inspectors also visited pubs and clubs during Wednesday night’s second State of Origin rugby league game to check for Covid compliance.
As of Wednesday, NSW has gone four days without a locally acquired coronavirus case.
There were more than 20,000 tests processed in the past 24-hour reporting period.
with AAP
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