Hair-raising waste offence results in heavy fines

A Leeds hairdresser is counting the cost of failing to deal with their business waste properly.

Carl Deacey, manager at Arena Hair Studio, Market Place, Wetherby was called before Leeds magistrates yesterday (Tuesday 14 June).

Deacey was fined a total of £2,000 and must also pay £523.65 costs and a £100 victim surcharge.

Environmental action officers received complaints in August 2015 alleging that Arena Hair Studios were putting business waste into public litter bins in the town centre.

Having visited the premises, officers served a legal notice requiring Deacey produce documentation to show what arrangements were in place to dispose of the waste produced by the business.

Deacey did produce a receipt for the removal of waste from the business for a period running from July 2014 to June 2015 but this wasn’t sufficient to prove the business was complying with their legal duty of care.

Further investigations by environmental action officers determined that Deacey had paid someone to produce a fake receipt for waste disposal.

Deacey admitted that the business has never had any legal means of disposing of their waste throughout their 35 years of operation, an offence under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

Magistrates were very critical of Deacey’s behaviour as he was potentially putting the public at risk by placing hazardous waste into public bins, a claim Deacey denied. Magistrates were also concerned that he forged documentation for waste disposal which was a very serious matter.