Tahini Lounge: Dronfield restaurant owner fined £500 over fly tipping incident near Sheffield

The former director of a popular restaurant in Dronfield, near Sheffield, has been fined over a fly tipping incident on a secluded country lane.

Christian Kent, aged 54, was prosecuted by the North East Derbyshire District Council for offences under sections 33 and 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

In April 2021, a witness observed waste being dumped from a vehicle on Fanshaw Gate Lane, Holmesfield, by two men. The witness provided details of the incident and the vehicle registration to the council's Environmental Enforcement Team, with the investigating officer retrieving evidence from the waste proving it was from Tahini Lounge.

Kent was interviewed by Environment officers, as he was the Director of Tahini Lounge at the time and working at the restaurant on the evening of the incident. It was established the vehicle used in Holmesfield was registered to another company Kent was director of.

The Environmental Protection Act 1990 states where waste is illegally deposited from a vehicle, the person who controls the use of a vehicle used to fly tip waste shall be treated as knowingly causing the waste to be deposited.

In court, Kent claimed to be unaware of the incident at the time, but accepted he was in a position to control the use of a vehicle and failing to prevent the escape of waste from his control.

He was fined £500 and ordered to pay a £50 victim surcharge, £1,187.22 prosection costs and £100 compensation to the witness.