Grant Williams

Local Democracy Reporting Service

A businessman from north London has been fined more than £50,000 after his employees were filmed fly-tipping leftover meat and fish on to a street and a flat roof.

Ali Jamil Mohammed, who is the director of Ranya Food Centre and Ranya Fresh Fish Limited on Kilburn High Road, entered guilty pleas on behalf of both companies at a recent court hearing.

Charges were brought after enforcement officers from Brent Council noticed the "disgraceful images" on the authority's cameras.

The illegal dumping was described as a "deliberate and coordinated operation".

The employees were photographed by council-installed cameras and showed "blatant breaches of environmental standards", the court was told.

Mohamed's businesses had repeatedly ignored warnings from the local authority after it received 18 individual complaints about their actions.

In May 2024, Brent Council launched its Don't Mess With Brent campaign, which aimed to take a zero-tolerance approach to fly-tippers and litterers across the borough by deploying more enforcement officers, installing cameras at hotspots, using drones, and issuing heavier fines.

Fly-tipping currently costs the local authority more than £1.5m a year, a spokesperson said, but it claimed the number of incidents are now decreasing as a campaign to tackle the problem is "beginning to yield results".

The £53,350 fine issued to Mohamed included court costs and victim surcharges.