The director of two businesses in North London has been hit with a fine of more than £50,000 after their employees were caught flytipping waste, which included leftover meat and fish. The illegal dumping was caught on camera in what the council has called a “deliberate and coordinated operation”.
Ali Jamil Mohammed, who is the Director of Ranya Food Centre and Ranya Fresh Fish Limited on Kilburn High Road, entered guilty pleas on behalf of both companies at a recent court hearing. The charges were brought after enforcement officers from Brent Council noticed the “disgraceful images” of employees throwing waste onto the street and a flat roof.
The council said the “eye-watering” £53,350 fine, which includes court costs and victim surcharges, serves as a “stark warning” to “disrespectful” businesses and individuals that continue to flytip. The crime currently costs the local authority more than £1.5m a year but it claims the number of incidents are now decreasing as a campaign to tackle the problem is “beginning to yield results”.
The employees were photographed by council-installed cameras and showed “blatant breaches of environmental standards”, which prompted legal action being taken. The court was told how Mr Mohamed’s businesses had “repeatedly ignored warnings” from the local authority and were subsequently prosecuted. The council told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that it got 18 individual complaints over the last few years about the businesses so the fine shows that residents reporting issues “can help us get to them”.
Cabinet Member for Environment and Enforcement, Cllr Krupa Sheth, said: “This sends an unbelievably clear message that we continue to take a zero-tolerance approach to fly-tipping — we will find you and catch you if you use our streets as your rubbish bin. Our officers work tirelessly to keep our streets clean and safe, and this outcome shows that justice will be served.”
In May 2024, Brent Council launched its ‘Don’t Mess With Brent’ campaign, which aims to take a zero-tolerance approach to fly-tippers and litterers across the borough by deploying more enforcement officers, installing cameras at hotspots, using drones, and issuing heavier fines against those guilty of offences.
The council claims it has issued 30 per cent more fines compared to the previous year since the start of the campaign. In 2022/23, Brent was the ‘flytipping capital of England’ after figures released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs revealed there were around 35,000 incidents in the borough.
As part of central government’s Plan for Change, local authorities have been given additional powers to clamp down on fly-tipping offenders. In recent months, Brent Council has made a point of highlighting some of the enforcement action that has been taken against perpetrators, which has included ceremoniously crushing a van that had been left on the street, a man being fined more than £4,500 for being caught dumping a bed by the side of the road, and identifying those responsible for discarded waste by searching it for evidence and issuing them with £1,000 fines.
Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed, said: “Waste criminals and fly-tippers who blight our towns and villages have gone unpunished for too long. The government is calling time on fly-tipping. I will not stand by while this avalanche of rubbish buries our communities.”
Grant Williams is a journalist and Local Democracy Reporter (LDR) for Reach PLC, reporting on local government, politics and community issues across London. As part of the Local Democracy Reporting Service, he has contributed to Harrow Online, covering council decisions, housing developments, transport, planning matters and stories affecting local communities across Harrow and Brent.
