Restaurant bosses have admitted mistakes were made after receiving a zero out of five food hygiene rating but claim changes have been made to improve it.

Earlier this month, KentOnline reported how Indian eatery Hawley Kitchen, in Dartford, received the low score from health inspectors following a visit on January 10.

Owner Shaheen Ahmed originally claimed there had been a mistake made and the score was not his but that of neighbouring takeaways Thai and Gourmet Kitchen.

This was disputed by both Dartford council and the owner of the other restaurants, Muj Rahmen, who is still waiting an inspection.

Mr Ahmed has now explained there had been a misunderstanding between the health inspector and himself and said he did genuinely believe the score had been awarded wrong.

However, he has now accepted the zero rating was for the Indian restaurant in Hawley Road.

The owner says he has made immediate changes to improve matters, including hiring new managerial staff.

The kitchen was reinspected two weeks ago and Mr Ahmed says the restaurant now holds a four out of five food hygiene rating. This is yet to be updated on the food standards website.

It previously held a five out of five for two years and a four out of five for the two years before that.

New manager Mr Rahmen said: "We are not going to make excuses, some mistakes were made. I do not know what happened there, there were some issues.

"Since I have come in, the processes are a lot better already. The communication between everyone is also getting a lot better. It has been pretty good."

When the inspection in January took place, Mr Ahmed was not present and says there had been a lot of miscommunication between the inspector and staff members who do not speak English well.

He believes this is what led to some of the deduction in marks.

In the January inspection report, which was sent to KentOnline following a Freedom of Information request, inspectors found food was being stored on the kitchen floor, walk-in chiller and freezer.

They recommended improvements for its stock management system which according to Mr Rahmen have now been implemented with new shelving.

The report added legal documents on Hawley Kitchen's food management system was not available as this was locked in the owner's office who was not present at the time.

Mr Ahmed claims this added to the low score although they did have the completed documentation.

The report also said raw food such as chicken wings were being stored next to ready to eat food such as lettuce but Mr Rahmen said it was actually fat pictured and not raw meat.

"I am not going to make an excuse, it should not have happened but this is not raw food," he added. "It was a mistake and is not usually stored like this."

Inspectors also found the ice machine was covered in mould and said chopping boards were being used to cut both raw and cooked products.

This has been disputed by the owner and manager as a miscommunication between the inspector and staff members who did not fully understand the questions being asked.

Mr Rahmen assured that all staff have the proper training and relevant qualifications required and he has gone through this with them again since.

He has also implemented new daily checks to ensure items such as the ice machine are cleaned daily, fixed the broken hand wash sink and flooring and adhered to the officer's recommendations on other aspects.

"Whatever issues were raised in the report, we have sorted quickly," he added.

"In terms of any other issues that may creep up, they are getting sorted straight away.

"It is about telling our customers we are making the changes and they can trust us and our food."