Spirit hit with £5,000 fine for illegal dumping

Spirit Group has been fined £5,000 after one of its city centre bars was found illegally dumping waste.

The company was also made to pay £673 in costs by Leeds City Council, for the waste at the rear of The Square on the Lane in Leeds. It included building rubble, carboard packaging and alcohol bottles that, according to the council, were spilling out into the street.

Bar staff and builders had left the waste following refurbishment of the bar and it was not contained in bins as required by law, magistrates heard.

"Business owners have a responsibility to ensure they dispose of waste carefully and that it is put in the right containers away from members of the public, especially in a busy city centre such as ours," said Cllr Steve Smith, executive member responsible for environmental enforcement.

"It is fantastic the Magistrates Court has shown it supports our efforts to crack down on people who wilfully damage the environment and have recognised the serious nature of this offence by handing out such a tough punishment to those responsible."

The fine is the largest ever issued by Leeds City Council for a fly-tipping offence.

A spokeswoman for Spirit said: "This was an isolated incident that involved a small number of refuse bags, full of building rubble, that were left at the side of our rubbish bins at the rear of the pub.

"The bags were not in a public area and there was absolutely no health and safety risk to customers.

"We fully support the local authority's plans to improve the local environment and we have a strong track record in this area."

The company was prosecuted under Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 for illegally disposing waste.