Goldhawk Rd flytipper fined, named & shamed

Aman, 85 Goldhawk Road: The Bad Guys

A shop owner has been landed with a large fine after admitting to dumping his rubbish on the streets. He's fallen victim not just to his own greed in seeking to avoid paying for litter removal services but our Council's increasing use of the media as a means of naming and shaming local bad guys.

For his downfall is currently a lead story being pumped out by the restlessly active media team at Hammersmith Town Hall who see his humiliation as a means of proving their get-tough policies are working. And in fairness I don't have much sympathy for the shop-owner - not only does it pollute everyone else's environment but it also feeds our ever growing local rat population - but I do wonder at the effectiveness of naming and shaming what is at the end of the day just a local shopkeeper.

Either way Councillor Greg Smith, who is one of the more verbally pugilistic among his colleages, is having none of my lilly-livered doubts. He says this:

“Research shows that 98 per cent of the borough’s streets are cleaner than the national standard. We spend millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money keeping our streets clean so we will not tolerate an irresponsible minority undermining our hard work. The message is clear – if you want to get rid if your trade waste, make sure you do so legally or be ready to pay the consequences.”

At Hammersmith Magistrates Court on February 28, 2012, the owner of the Aman shop Manmohan Singh Arora pleaded guilty to three fly tipping offences and one 'duty of care' offence. This was after council officers had noted bags of waste outside the shop and has repeatedly asked the owners where they disposed of their rubbish. Most of these invites were ignored until Mr Arora was served with a £300 fixed penalty and invited, under caution, to an interview at Hammersmith Town Hall where he admitted flytipping at the Bestway Cash & Carry.

In total, the Court fined Aman £1,000 for flytipping and trade waste offences and was ordered to pay costs of £2,322. A £15 victim surcharge was also imposed, making a total of £3,337.