The business owners and store manager of a supermarket in Enfield were ordered to pay fines totalling £23,430 after being found guilty of illegally dumping waste in Epping Forest. The record fine was issued after a large amount of rubbish from Elvan Food Centre was discovered in the forest’s Bury Road car park, located between Chingford and Buckhurst Hill.
Investigators traced the rubbish, which included plastic refuse bags, product packaging, cardboard, and wooden vegetable trays, back to the Turkish-owned grocery store located at 614-616 Hertford Road. The evidence was used by the City of London Corporation, which is responsible for the forest, and Waltham Forest Council to prosecute.
Elvan Foods Ltd fined £20,430 for “some of the worst” fly-tipping
Earlier this week, Thames Magistrates Court found the store owners and manager guilty, with District Judge, Jane McIvor stating the fly-tips were “some of the worst she had seen in a long time.”
Elvan Food Ltd was fined a record £20,430. Uygar Altun, of Enfield, who was responsible for the day-to-day management of the Enfield store, was ordered to pay a fine totalling £3,000.
A story in Avrupa newspaper last March said the store’s owner was 32-year-old Kemal Altun. Originating from the village of Çağşak, Sarız, in Kayseri, central Turkey, Kemal Altun claimed he had 15 years of experience in the grocery retail sector. After buying the shop next door on Hertford Road, he proceeded to double the size of Elvan Food Centre as part of his plans to make it the most popular supermarket in the neighbourhood.
Supermarket slashed profit margins to make it “cheapest” in Enfield
Kemal Altun told Avupra that Elvan was, “operating with 20% profit margins. As there is no other supermarket working with this level of profit margins, we are confident there is no one cheaper than us. We are selling quality products cheaply.”
According to Companies House records, the director listed for Elvan Food Ltd is Ali Riza Tulu. In November, the company applied to go into voluntary liquidation. However, an objection received by the Registrar in December has put the action on hold.
Following the convictions, Philip Woodhouse, chairman of the Corporation’s Epping Forest Committee, said: “Dumping rubbish in Epping Forest is completely unacceptable and we take a zero-tolerance approach to it.”
“It is unsightly, dangerous and damaging to the environment.”
“Our job is to protect this ancient woodland and we will prosecute anyone found to be carrying out this sort of illegal activity.”
The City of London Corporation spends some £250,000 cleaning up an average of 600 fly tips and 300 tonnes of rubbish every year in Epping Forest.
The Corporation offers a £500 reward to individuals who can provide evidence which leads to prosecution for fly tipping.
Main photo above from Facebook/Elvan Food Centre No. 1
