An independent Caribbean takeaway has been forced to close after being billed £11,000 for fly-tipping – Islington’s biggest ever fine for the offence.
The owners of Papa Winny’s say the “outrageous” bill has left them with no choice but to shut their Holloway Road shop 18 months after opening it.
But Islington Council, which brought the charges, said the business failed to pay an initial fine of £400 and committed three further offences, leaving it with little choice but to take the shop to court.
Rees Tim and Stefan Delisser say the council submitted more than 50 pages of evidence for the hearing at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court.
Papa Winny’s faced five counts of dumping a number of black bin bags on the pavement or in nearby residential recycling bins between October and May, and one count of failing to hand over a document detailing its commercial waste disposal policy.
On July 13 the takeaway was fined £2,000 each for five fly-tipping offences, £845 costs and a £170 victim surcharge.
But in an Instagram post today, Rees and Stefan claimed they had begged customers to stop littering and even picked rubbish up after them before putting it in bins.
The decision to close rounds off a tough 12 months for the pair, who lost all the shop’s Christmas wages during a raid in December and had to launch a desperate fundraising drive to pay staff before the holidays.
The farewell message said: “Papa Winny’s will now be closed permanently on Holloway Road following a court case with Islington Council in which they provided over 50 pages of evidence of the litter dropped on the floor by some customers. Hence the reason we used to beg customers not to litter drop, which we continually picked up and deposited in local authority bins. For this we have been fined over £11,000 which to be honest is outrageous.
“We feel like Islington Council has tried to bully us since opening the shop with zero support but instead continuous fines.
“We have had enough now. Time to find some new premises outside Islington! We would like to thank everyone who has supported us. [It’s] meant so much to us and won’t be forgotten.”
The pair worked in construction before opening the grilled food takeaway on Boxing Day in 2015.
Islington’s environment boss Cllr Claudia Webbe said: “Islington does not tolerate fly-tipping, which is selfish and disrespectful. This is the biggest fine for fly-tipping the courts have ever handed down in Islington, reflecting how seriously the law and the council take these offences.
“This takeaway business ignored all our efforts to engage with them and did not even turn up to defend themselves in court.
“We support small businesses in every way we can but it is essential that they respect the law.”
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