Takeaway owner ordered to pay nearly £5,000 after fly-tipping two freezers behind his County Durham shop
Sopranos Takeaway owner, Ben Martin, dumped two chest freezers and a suitcase outside his shop on Broom Lane in Ushaw Moor
by Nicole Goodwin · ChronicleLiveA takeaway owner has been ordered to pay nearly £5,000 after fly-tipping two freezers behind his shop.
Two chest freezers and a suitcase was among the rubbish discovered in a street behind Sopranos Takeaway on Broom Lane in Ushaw Moor. It prompted Durham County Council's neighbourhood wardens to take legal action against the owner, Ben Martin.
And now he has been ordered to pay a £2,640 fine, £1,029 costs, and a £1,056 victim surcharge, totalling £4,725 after being found guilty of fly-tipping at Peterlee Magistrates' Court.
Durham County Council said a warden visited Sopranos Takeaway to ask Martin if he knew about the waste outside his premises. The owner admitted it was his rubbish and that a date had been set for it to be cleared. He was advised to move the rubbish within the boundary of his premises until it was due to be taken away.
However, more than five weeks later, the warden returned to the premises and found that the waste was still in the street. Given the amount of time that had passed, the warden had to arrange for the council's Clean and Green team to remove the rubbish, and Martin was issued with a notice requiring him to attend an interview.
The court heard that the 54-year-old, of High Street, West Cornforth, failed to attend the interview.
Ian Hoult, Durham County Council’s neighbourhood protection manager, said: "Regardless of the location, whether behind a shop or in the countryside, fly-tipping causes serious environmental damage and negatively impacts communities.
"In this case, the takeaway owner failed to take responsibility for his own waste, which not only impacted on the health and wellbeing of residents but resulted in taxpayers' money being used to clear it away, which could have easily been avoided by using the correct disposal services.
"This case shows that we keep an eye out for fly-tipping, and we will take action where rubbish has been dumped illegally."
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