Stumpy’s Shack in Wolverton has been ordered to pay nearly £800 after pleading guilty to breaching their duty of care relating to waste.
Milton Keynes Magistrates Court heard on Friday 20 November that in September 2019, an Enforcement Officer from Wolverton and Greenleys Town Council came across 4 bags of waste containing take away packaging that was left out for domestic collection.
When recording the incident, officers were approached by Stumpy’s Shack staff admitting the waste belonged to the business and were placed outside for normal collection. Staff later removed the bags.
MK Council’s Environmental Crime Unit were notified and requested to see their waste documentation, but the company failed to produce it.
In failing to do this, a Fixed Penalty Notice was issued to them for this offence, but no payment was received, and the business was the reported for summons.
Stuart Atkinson, a Director of New City Holdings MK Ltd who own Stumpy’s Shack, attended court on behalf of the company and pleaded guilty. Magistrates fined them £300 and ordered them to pay the Council’s Legal and investigation costs of £453.08. The company were, also, ordered to pay a £32 victim surcharge.
This comes months after it was announced that council officials found the presence of cocaine on food preparation surfaces and on/inside food storage equipment in the kitchen at Stumpy's Shack.
In July 2020, the takeaway was served a Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice by the Council’s Environmental Health team just one month after coming under fire for "humiliating" a customer on their social media page.
In June 2020, the customer complained about his "awful" burger, which led to the takeaway then posting images of him on their business Facebook page, which has now been deleted. The post read: "Does he look like he that picky about his food apparently don’t like the Homer Simpson burger".
Before deletion, dozens of people had criticised Stumpy's Shack for their "unprofessional" actions. One member of the public received a response from Stumpy's Shack asking whether she is "still working in the brothel".
The customer had reported Stumpy's Shack to Trading Standards, and just one month later, the takeaway was forced to temporarily close.
Stumpy's Shack cannot trade until remedial actions have been taken, with Environmental Health Officers set to re-inspect the takeaway in due course.
© MKFM News 2020
