FINES totalling more than £2,000 have been issued to a row of businesses for failing to have the correct bins.

Bolton Council has fined seven businesses in Bury Road, Bolton, following a series of spot checks.

Enforcement officers ordered 16 firms to provide evidence of their waste disposal practices within a week, but seven failed to supply sufficient evidence and were fined £300.

A council spokesman said: “Businesses have a legal responsibility to dispose of their waste correctly and not doing so is an offence under the Environmental Protection Act.

“Businesses cannot place their waste into domestic waste bins and not having proper arrangements in place can cost council taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.

“Over the last two years, the council has employed two dedicated enforcement officers to visit businesses across the borough to see if they were disposing of their waste correctly

“In the last fortnight we visited a large number of businesses on Bury Road and many did have the right arrangements in place. Sixteen businesses were asked to provide evidence of their waste disposal. Unfortunately of these companies, seven were unable to provide sufficient evidence and received fines of £300.

“Any businesses with concerns or queries about commercial waste disposal should visit gov.uk/managing-your-waste-an-overview for more information.”

Jo Banks, of hardware store Wise Buys, was one of the people fined and says the penalty is unfair.

She said: “I have run the shop since February and we have never been advised that we needed to have bins.

“It is just ridiculous, it is not like we have been fly-tipping or anything like that.

“I heard this all came about because a restaurant was pouring its waste down a drain in the back alley, which blocked the drains up.

“£300 is a lot of money for me. You don’t get any help when you are trying to start up a small business like this.

“This is a community shop and we all help each other out around here.

“A lot of businesses around here have shut down and fines like this aren’t helpful.”

Staff in the Bolton Dementia Support shop in Bury Road said that fly-tipping from surrounding businesses was not a problem.