Rubbish fine for bank

A BANK has been ordered to pay £3,645 in fines and court costs for leaving bags of waste at the rear of its Romford branch. The rubbish outside NatWest, in Exchange Street, included the personal bank details of a customer. Havering Council took action after enforcement officers found bags and boxes of documents on several occasions. Despite a number of written warnings and fixed penalty notices being issued, the offending continued. The bank pleaded guilty to an offence under section 34(6) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. It also admitted breaching its duty of care with respect to refuse disposal on dates between October 22 and October 29, 2007. It also asked for similar offences on February 11, March 3 and June 30, 2008, to be taken into consideration. NatWest was fined £3,000 and was also ordered to pay costs. The magistrates said that the fine would have been £4,500 had the bank contested the action and been found guilty. The maximum fine for such an offence is £5,000. Bob Wenman, head of Streetcare at Havering Council, said: “It is extremely disappointing that we had to take such a well-known high street bank like NatWest to court, but they had several warnings so legal action appeared to be the only way to solve this problem. “We are working hard to make Havering better with safer, cleaner and greener streets and will take individuals and companies - no matter how big - to court if necessary.”