Windsor businesses hit out at council contractors District Enforcement over fines

Small businesses in Windsor are angry with the Royal Borough’s contractors, District Enforcement, for issuing fines for moving small amounts of rubbish off their premises.

Ken Brooks of Bubbles Launderette in St Leonards Road says he was issued a fixed penalty notice of £300 for taking cardboard boxes from the launderette to his car, to deposit them in his own skip elsewhere.

He was informed that to move them, he needs a waste transfer notice. Ken asked the Environment Agency for advice. He said the agency told him he should appeal the fine.

“They (District Enforcement) are parasites, just trying to catch you to raise money,” Mr Brooks said. “I think it will backfire – it will make people disrespectful because they’ve already been fined.”

Clive Stanton of Eton Vintners, also in St Leonards Road, had a similar issue. To cut down on waste, the wine merchant reuses its boxes by giving them to customers when they make a purchase.

When District Enforcement found two of them in the nearby recycle dump, officers asked to see Eton Vintners’ waste contract. The business does not have one and was issued a fine.

Mr Stanton wrote a letter of complaint to the council, claiming he was spoken to in a ‘threatening manner’ by District Enforcement, however the Royal Borough has confirmed an investigation using footage from body-worn cameras found this allegation was unfounded.

The two businesses are part of a handful in the area that have purportedly received fines from District Enforcement.

A council spokesman said: “Every business has a legal duty of care to ensure that any waste it produces or handles is stored, transported, treated, reprocessed and disposed of safely.”

“If a business owner gives their waste to anyone else it’s the business owners responsibility to make sure that person is authorised to take it.”