Director fined after waste found fly tipped in country park

The director of a company that runs a Persian restaurant has been fined after a load of rubbish was found fly tipped in Shotover Country Park.

A load of construction waste, including packaging addressed to a Masood Khanloo, was found at the park – designated a site of special scientific interest – in South Oxfordshire on 16 January 2024.

At a hearing at Oxford Magistrates Court on 18 October 2024, Mr Khanloo, who is the sole director of Fine Persian Dishes Ltd, Greenhill House, Harrow, which operates the Shiraz restaurant in Cowley Road in Oxford, pleaded guilty to four charges under Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, relating to the duty of care for waste. 

The court heard how Mr Khanloo had led council officers on a wild goose chase with inconsistent accounts of how he disposed of his waste.

Mr Khanloo was adamant that he disposed of the packaging found in the fly tip at recycling bins at Sainsburys Kidlington in early January, which Sainsburys confirmed had been taken away some three months earlier.

He initially claimed the items delivered in the packaging had nothing to do with his business but for his home but were in fact for the restaurant his business operates. 

Just a few days before the hearing, he admitted he had in fact passed the waste to one of his staff because the staff member had said he had use of a skip that he could dispose of the waste in.

In mitigation, the court heard how the restaurant was having some re-fitting done and Mr Khanloo had purchased the items, some of which were delivered to his home address, but the workmen left all the packaging to be disposed of.

Magistrates heard how one of the chefs at the restaurant was eager to please Mr Khanloo and said he could use a skip to dump the waste. When Mr Khanloo was shown photographs of the fly tip, he questioned the chef who told him that when he went to use the skip it had gone and so he fly tipped it at Shotover.

The court were told that Mr Khanloo didn’t accept that all of the waste found in the fly tip was his.

In sentencing, magistrates noted that this was the second time this had happened, with Fine Persian Dishes Limited previously prosecuted in August 2023 for similar waste offences.

Taking the early guilty plea into account, magistrates imposed a fine of £5,000 and Mr Khanloo was ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £2,000 and costs of £1,521.96.

Councillor Sam James-Lawrie, South Oxfordshire District Council Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “Fly tipping is both anti-social and has a detrimental impact on the environment.  I hope this case serves as a reminder that anyone who disposes of waste – even when using a third party – needs to ensure it is done so legally.”