Overflowing bin costs restaurant owners £4K
A Manchester firm has been hit with a penalty of £4,399, after its commercial waste bin was repeatedly found overflowing in the Rusholme area of the city.
KFT Group Ltd, the owner of Beilul Lounge, 100A Wilmslow Road, was found guilty of five separate offences of failing to manage its commercial waste, at a Manchester Magistrates Court hearing.
The prosecution came after a string of offences were detected by Manchester City Council between November, 2016 and February, 2017.
Due to concerns about waste management practices at the premises, a council enforcement officer served KFT Group with a notice under section 47 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, stipulating how the company should manage its waste in future.
The order was first breached in December, 2016 and the company was served with a Fixed Penalty Notice for the offence, which was paid.
Despite this intervention, the company continued to breach the terms of the notice -and on five separate occasions, the premises’ waste container was found to be overflowing, with items of waste discarded on the ground.
During an interview under caution, the company director blamed other, unnamed local businesses for the offences, claiming that the lock on his bin had been deliberately broken so that waste could be placed in his container. However, no evidence was provided to support these claims.
KFT Group Ltd, of Cheetham Hill Road, Manchester, failed to attend the hearing. In the company’s absence, it was fined £660 for each of the five offences – a total of £3,300 – and ordered to pay £1,099 in costs, making a total penalty of £4,399.
Executive member for neighbourhoods, Cllr Nigel Murphy, said: “KFT Group was given every opportunity to clean up its act, but their blatant disregard for the state of their neighbourhood left us with no choice but to prosecute them.
“Our Environmental Crimes team will continue to follow up reports of offences such as these and as this significant fine shows, firms who think they can shirk their responsibilities need to think again.”
