Barnet Council is getting tough on litterbugs after four people were successfully prosecuted for leaving rubbish on pavements.

Last week, Barnet Magistrates imposed £900 in fines after litter was dumped outside shops in Burnt Oak and East Finchley.

Magistrates heard how Spencer Dyer left a bag of rubbish outside the Gold Shop in Burnt Oak Broadway on April 26 this year and left a further five bags the next day. He was fined a total of £450 and ordered to pay £250 costs.

In a separate incident, shopkeeper Suleyman Cagin was fined £150 for leaving boxes of rotting vegetables and other rubbish outside the Aran Supermarket in Watling Avenue, Burnt Oak, in April.

Councillor Geof Cooke, cabinet member for environment, said: "The council's Neighbourhood Management Service is working with Environmental Services to make Barnet a more attractive place to live in.

"One way this is being done is by prosecuting people who dump their rubbish in streets or other open places.

"The great majority of traders are very responsible but it is those few people who don't stick to the law that can make the borough look untidy."

October 16, 2001 11:49

KEVIN BURCHALL