HUNDREDS of Westcountry hotels and guesthouses have failed to comply with fire safety regulations in the wake of the worst hotel blaze in 40 years, the Western Morning News has found.

Since the Penhallow hotel in Newquay burned to the ground in August 2007 – a tragedy that saw three people killed – 473 notices have been issued to non-domestic properties in Devon and Cornwall stating they had fallen short of legislation to save more people from death and injury.

The properties are chiefly those providing sleeping accommodation, such as hotels, B&Bs and guesthouses, which fire chiefs determined were "high-risk" after new laws were introduced in 2006.

Faults included poor fire escapes, inadequate techniques to stop fires from spreading and outdated alarm systems.

According to a publicly available register of notices, the vast majority were told by the fire service to upgrade within a set timescale.

Occasionally, fire services were moved to order hotels to shut partially or entirely, such was the risk to guests.

Seventeen such orders were issued in Cornwall since the Penhallow fire, including a Falmouth hotel which was found guilty at Camborne Magistrates' Court of ignoring the notice.

Among a number of issues, fire officers were deeply concerned that guests at the hotel would have to smash open a Perspex box to get keys to fire exits, which would cause "serious confusion and delay".

Kevin Thomas, Cornwall Fire Service area manager and senior fire safety officer, said: "I still think there are businesses out there that are less likely to grab hold of this legislation than they should.

"Some people still expect us to come round and tell them what they have to do. The reality is we now don't do that."

The revelations follow the conclusion of the inquest into the Penhallow tragedy earlier this month.

Coroner Dr Emma Carlyon said that all hotel and guesthouse owners needed to be reminded of their responsibility to comply with fire safety measures.

The new Regulatory Reform Order came into force in October 2006. The order means owners of all non-domestic properties are required to carry out a self-assessment of their fire safety provision, including hotels, factories and offices.

At the same time, the old system of fire brigades issuing safety certificates was scrapped.

Representing the biggest revision of fire safety guidance since 1971, the change meant that buildings that had not updated fire safety for potentially more than 30 years were suddenly expected to adhere to stricter rules.

Dr Carlyon said at the inquest: "I intend to write to the Minister of Tourism to highlight to her the concerns raised by those at the inquest about the change in fire legislation and to self-regulation and the risk of future deaths, in particular at hotels and guesthouses, if insufficient measures are provided to support the investment in fire safety or to ensure compliance."

Mr Thomas said the previous legislation was "not doing its job entirely". Small hotels and B&Bs, for example, had to make no provision for fire safety whatsoever.

"The weakness with that system was that the standard we requested in the early 1970s would be way off what we expect now," he said.

Notwithstanding the Penhallow tragedy, in which holidaymakers Joan Harper, 80, Peter Hughes, 43, and his mother, Monica Hughes, 86, were killed, Mr Thomas believed self-regulation, coupled with a thorough fire service audit, had made hotels in the region safer.

He said: "There is also quite clear evidence on the register of people that have complied with the notice. Not only have they had a notice, they've done the work.

"Before October 2006, there were hotels that had very old-fashioned or no alarm systems. What the legislation has done is required them all to come up to current-day standards fairly quickly.

"If I look back over the past two-and-a-half years, and we have to be careful because we have seen a tragedy, I think our inspection regime has achieved an awful lot in terms of the safety of buildings.

"Before, we didn't have the ability to require the updating of a system. We persuaded some people to and there were some very responsible owners.

"The vast majority accepted the requirements placed upon them by their fire certificate, did the minimum to maintain that but didn't want to invest additional funds to raise the standards further."

Tourism bosses argue that while most businesses are responsible, legislation is sometimes confusing and small businesses face bills they cannot afford.

John Armstrong, who has owned the four-star Headland Hotel, a "big, complex building", in Newquay for decades, said the number of notices issued was "open to misinterpretation".

He added: "It isn't that they are reading the riot act to all these recaltriant hoteliers, that's just the way the paper trail unfolds."

But he questioned whether hoteliers were the right people to be assessing their own fire risk, even if they employed consultants to carry out the work. He said the Government was expecting "non-experts to do what is a very expert function".

"They (the fire service) are the experts, they will know infinitely more about fire protection than I ever will. These guys are up-to-speed, up-to-date, they know what they are talking about.

"It would be much better if they said, 'This is what you have to do, now do it'.

"I suppose it is Cornwall County Fire Brigade sort of not wanting to take responsibility for fire precautions at the Headland Hotel, except they jolly well do.

"If I get it wrong, and they and I argue the toss, we go to the magistrates' court and we'll see who's right, shall we. It would just be better if they did it in the first place."

Mr Armstrong said there was not a requirement for even a fire extinguisher in a hotel when he entered the industry in the 1960s, but today, hoteliers could be pulled up for having just two hinges on a fire door rather than three.

He added: "What fire is going to be selective – melt one hinge and not all three? That strikes me as a funny one."

Gordon Oliver, chairman of Torbay Hospitality Association, said: "What we need with legislation is a benign manner of implementation. There should be a balance, a sympathetic approach."