A Brick Lane fly-tipper has been ordered to pay more than £3,000 by a magistrate, after being caught illegally dumping waste in the street.
Seoul Garden restaurant was ordered by Thames Magistrates Court to pay a £1,000 fine and £2,132 in costs at a hearing earlier this month over the offence.
The court heard how council environmental services officers patrolling the area caught a restaurant worker red-handed, as two black sacks of waste were dumped in a local fly-tipping hotspot.
Council officers issued a £400 fixed penalty notice for the offence – the maximum amount allowed under law – which then went unpaid, resulting in the prosecution and the court’s order to pay than £3,000.
John Biggs, Mayor of Tower Hamlets, said:
“We all want people to get rid of their waste legally, but if people do fly-tip, we will always take the strongest action possible.
“Everyone has a part to play in keeping our borough clean and my thanks go to all our residents and businesses who do the right thing with their rubbish and those who work hard to bring these offenders who blight our borough to justice.”
Between December 2020 and December 2021, the council issued 431 fixed penalty notices for fly-tipping and investigated 7,046 fly-tipping incidents. £464,473 was spent by the council in clearing up fly-tipped waste in 2021.
Cllr Asma Islam, Cabinet Member for Environment and Planning, said:
“Fly-tipping not only creates an eyesore and a hazard on our streets but there’s also an impact on the public purse, with taxpayers’ cash being spent on clearing up the mess rather than on other areas which matter to our residents.
“We’re tough on enforcement and made it easier for people to report fly-tipping, but to prevent it in the first place we’ve also written to thousands of businesses and residents to remind them of what they need to do in getting rid of waste.
“Fly-tipping is a crime and our teams continue to work hard to target this problem in stepping up enforcement, increasing patrols in hotspot areas and we will never hesitate to prosecute offenders illegally dumping on our streets.”
You can report fly-tipping through the Love Your Neighbourhood app or visit www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/flytipping.
Posted on Tuesday 1st February 2022