A Chippenham barber has been convicted over rubbish dumped in the countryside.
Baban Ghafoor, who owns Turkish Style Barber in Market Place, failed to appear at Bristol Magistrates’ Court on Monday 8 January – and was found guilty of waste duty of care offences.
The court heard that on 22 November 2022, a pile of cardboard and packaging was discovered on a verge at Church Road, Rudgeway, in South Gloucestershire, and was reported to the council.
Council operatives cleared the fly-tip the following day and took a series of photographs including a picture of a delivery label for an address at Market Place, Chippenham.
The council’s environmental enforcement officers visited the address, a gentleman’s hairdressers, on 1 December, where they spoke to Ghafoor.
He was shown photos of the fly-tip and identified the waste as coming from his business address stating that he had paid £150 to a man to take away his waste.
When interviewed under caution, he claimed that the man was a customer and the subject about waste removal came up and the man offered to take his waste away.
He said that a man arrived at the Market Place address later that evening where the waste was loaded on to the back of a white coloured flatbed vehicle. He was paid £150 in cash and no receipt was given.
But Ghafoor was unable to supply any contact details for the man or the registration of the vehicle used to remove the waste.
He was ordered to pay a fine of £660, along with £785 in costs and a £264 victim surcharge, making a total of £1,709.
Ghafoor previously hit the news when he painted his barber shop – a historic listed building on the town’s high street, bright yellow. Read more >
Councillor Leigh Ingham, cabinet member responsible for environmental enforcement at South Gloucestershire Council, said: “This latest prosecution should act as a deterrent to anyone who fails in their duty of care for waste disposal.
“South Gloucestershire Council always pursues fly-tip related prosecutions through the courts and our award-winning environmental enforcement team has a 100 per cent record of securing successful prosecutions for this type of offence.
“We all have a responsibility to ensure that our waste is disposed of in a responsible and lawful manner.
“If you hire a third-party to take away your waste, always ask for a copy of the company’s waste carrier registration certificate and ask where the waste is being taken, or you could be found liable and face a considerable fine.”
