The owner of a pizza takeaway has voiced his frustration after it was slapped with a one-star food hygiene rating.

Iraj Noori's business in Ramsgate, STB Pizza, was found to have a dirty oven, fridge, fryer and chopping boards when visited by an inspector.

It now has the unwanted accolade of being among the worst-rated eateries in the Thanet district, and customers have started falling by the wayside.

But its owner says the low score is not a true reflection of his business, and says it must be reinspected as the issues were quickly resolved.

As well as noting how the "general cleanliness was poor throughout", the Food Standards Agency (FSA) discovered a water leak in the walk-in chiller and a number of broken tiles in a preparation room.

A large amount of unclean cardboard - harbouring bacteria - was also found placed on the floor around the West Dumpton Lane premises.

As a result of the discoveries, STB was given a one-star rating on September 29.

Despite the rating, owner Mr Noori says customers should not be put off from using his pizza takeaway.

"We clean throughout the morning as most of our customers are later on at night-time," he said.

"The inspector came near to midday, so it was only about 10 minutes after opening.

"We were midway through cleaning. We know everything has to be so clean, and we do it everyday. The fryer gets oily so it has to be done every day.

"Small things like the oven and fryer and chopping boards were not clean - they are things you can easily sort, and they do get dirty midway through cooking.

"If you are cooking, things become oily and dirty but you clean as you go.

"Of course when you're told to sort issues out, you have to fix the problems.

"We fixed all the issues within two days. As long as we cooperate they should give us a reinspection as we have really lost customers because of the rating."

Mr Noori says delivery firms such as Just Eat and Deliveroo have warned him that his account will be closed if the hygiene rating is not improved.

During the September inspection, weighing scales were also found to be dirty, along with a sink in a toilet.

On top of the dirty equipment, the FSA official found opened food cans in the fridge and found no evidence of hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) documentation.

Mr Noori said: "I'm confident we'll get four or five stars when they come again. We had four stars before.

"It's all open here - we have an open kitchen so we don't hide. Everything can be seen straight away by customers, and it isn't unclean.

"I've applied for a reinspection but we haven't had one, it's not right. The council should be trying to help businesses and get an inspector to come back.

"Every single minute, I'm waiting for them to come."