News / Fly-Tipping
Dry cleaners’ director prosecuted over fly-tipping offences
The director of a dry cleaners has been prosecuted over multiple fly-tipping offences.
Jonathan Ogden of Smarty Dry Cleaners in Redcliffe was found guilty at Bristol Magistrates’ Court and fined.
It comes after Bristol City Council’s neighbourhood enforcement officers found piles of waste at the junction of Redcliff Hill and Guinea Street on three occasions.
A search through the waste showed evidence linking it to Smarty Dry Cleaners, with further investigations proving that the waste had been left there by the company at Waring House in Redcliff Hill.
The court on Monday ordered Ogden to pay a fine of £350 for each of the three offences, costs of £1,000 and a victim surcharge of £105 – a total of £2,155.
A director of a dry cleaners has been fined after his company was found to have fly-tipped – photo: Bristol City Council
Commenting on the prosecution, mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees said it should “act as a warning to individuals and businesses that do not dispose of their waste properly”.
He said: “Fly-tipping causes disruption and is unsightly on our streets. We know people care passionately about keeping Bristol tidy and we are working to educate everyone on their responsibility in helping us to keep our streets litter free.”
When Bristol24/7 visited the dry cleaners on Saturday, it was operating as normal. A worker said Ogden would not be back in the shop until the coming week and was therefore not available for comment.
Founded by Ogden in 2000, laundry and dry cleaning service Smarty Dry Cleaning also has branches in Gloucester Road, Bradford on Avon, Bath, Keynsham, Hungerford and Cirencester.
Since 2017, Bristol City Council has issued more than 30,000 fixed penalty notices for environmental offences and 2,500 people have been taken to court for non-payment.
The council launched the Big Tidy project in October 2019, with more than 800 fly tips cleared, more than 1,800 streets cleaned and more 11,000 graffiti tags removed since then.
In 2021/22, there were more than 10,000 reports of fly-tipping, each incident costing around £150 to remove and enforce.
Main photo: Charlie Watts
Read next:
- Property owner landed with £10k fine over state of his graffiti-covered properties
- Plans to introduce waste disposal fees could lead to more fly-tipping
- Calls for community action on Kingswood fly-tipping
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