THE ‘MANAGER’ of a Rugby town centre convenience store had to cough up nearly £2,500 after rubbish from his shop was repeatedly found dumped next to a litter bin.
A man and a woman were caught on CCTV piling cardboard, shrink wrap and pallets next to a litter bin opposite Kwahu Supermarket, shortly after a lorry made a delivery to the High Street store in October 2022.
Rugby Borough Council’s environmental health and community safety team launched an investigation – and spotted a further 12 fly-tipping incidents on camera during the following month.
The investigation confirmed Albert Writer and Samuel Owusu were both sundry debtors to the business rates account for the supermarket and both had given the same property in Coventry’s Foleshill Road as the billing address.
After confirming the shop had no waste collection contract with the council, an environmental health officer wrote to both Writer and Mr Owusu – prompting Writer to call the council and confirm he was the store’s manager.
Invited to interview under caution, Writer again confirmed he was responsible for the running of the supermarket.
He said waste from the store should have been stored on the premises before being collected by a registered waste disposal firm.
Writer admitted failing to instruct the woman caught on camera fly-tipping in October 2022 how the store disposed of waste, and also failed to produce waste transfer notes to demonstrate the supermarket’s rubbish was disposed of legally – despite the council requesting copies of the notes.
But at Coventry Magistrates Court, Writer pleaded not guilty to 13 charges of fly-tipping and a charge of failing to produce waste transfer notes.
Writer told the court he was helping his friend, Mr Owusu, by working at the supermarket, and had referred to himself as the ‘manager’ as a cultural term for ‘helping out’ – despite evidence showing he was a leaseholder of the supermarket and was responsible for paying its business rates.
Magistrates found Writer guilty of all charges at the hearing on Tuesday February 11, and fined him £700 for the 2022 fly-tipping offence.
Magistrates also ordered Writer to pay a victim surcharge of £280 and the council’s costs – £1,500.
Speaking after the hearing, Coun Claire Edwards, the council’s spokesperson for communities and homes, regulation and safety, said: “Fly-tipping costs our taxpayers tens of thousands of pounds a year and causes untold damage to the environment.
“The council operates a zero-tolerance policy on fly-tipping and we investigate all reported incidents.
“When we find evidence to trace the culprit, we can take legal action, from issuing fixed penalty notices to taking the case to court, so I’d encourage all residents to report incidents to us and support our work to crackdown on fly-tipping.”
Visit www.rugby.gov.uk/fly-tipping for more information on fly-tipping and how to report incidents.
