Rubbish in Northgate Photo: CCC
A former shopkeeper from Canterbury whose commercial waste was found dumped outside her business address in Northgate, Canterbury, has been ordered by a court to pay £732.
On 5 November 2022, Canterbury City Council Environmental Crime Officers received a report of fly tipping outside Sweet Snax in Northgate. Officers attended and found evidence linking the rubbish to the shop and made attempts to contact its occupant but the shopkeeper had vacated the property on the same day.
Officers made numerous attempts to speak to the former shopkeeper, who had left the area to set up a new food establishment, but she ignored their letters and failed to attend two previous court hearings. Eventually, a warrant without bail was issued for her arrest and Essex Police located her at an address in that county. Kiran Khalid, 38, of Harlow in Essex, pleaded guilty to two offences when she appeared before Folkestone Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday 2 July.
She was fined £180 for failing to produce a waste transfer note and £180 for failing to manage waste to prevent any other person flytipping it. She was ordered to pay court costs of £300 and a victim surcharge of £72.
Cllr Connie Nolan, Canterbury City Council’s Cabinet Member for Community Engagement, Safety and Enforcement, said:
“We all have a responsibility to dispose of our waste properly and that goes for businesses too.
“They must put arrangements in place for commercial waste to be collected and disposed of properly.
“As you can see from the picture, when this doesn’t happen it creates a complete mess and an eyesore which affects everyone’s quality of life and blights nearby businesses too.
“This case demonstrates we will pursue those that break the law.
“We gave the defendant every opportunity to help our Environmental Crime Officers with their investigation and to explain why she put her waste outside the front door of her shop rather than pay for the services of a commercial waste contractor to take it away.”