£1,600 fine for shopkeeper over waste breaches

Mariwan Ahmed, of Fitzwilliam Road, Eastwood, was fined £600 by Rotherham Magistrates’ on Tuesday because he was unable to produce the necessary Duty of Care documents to prove the legal disposal of waste from his shop.

Ahmed was also fined the statutory maximum of £1,000 for failing to comply with requests to supply suitable receptacles for his waste.

The case was taken to court when an enforcement officer from Rotherham Borough Council's Community Protection Unit investigated the lack of waste management at the premises following resident complaints.

Magistrates were told that the enforcement officer had visited the shop on numerous occasions to advise and educate Ahmed and gone to a considerable amount of effort to engage him.

When this failed, Ahmed was served with two notices requiring him to produce waste transfer documents for the business and also provide suitable receptacles to store his waste.  

When the council received no response to the notice requiring documents to be produced, a fixed penalty notice of £300 was issued but this was not paid. Ahmed also ignored the request for receptacles to be used on site.

It was then decided to prosecute Ahmed under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and Ahmed pleaded not guilty to failing to produce Duty of Care waste transfer notes for the period between November 2012 and January 2013, contrary to Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

He also pleaded not guilty to the offence of failing to provide adequate waste receptacles, contrary to Section 47 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

However magistrates found him guilty of the offences, fining Ahmed £600 for failing to provide documentation and also the statutory maximum of £1,000 for failing to provide receptacles.

Ahmed was also ordered to pay costs in the region of £1,200 bringing his total bill to just under £3,000, including a £120 victim surcharge.