Two clothing collection companies have been prosecuted for unlicensed collections in Caerphilly County Borough.
Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Trading Standards department took the two companies, Hand of Help UK Ltd and Alra Clothing Ltd to court after they distributed charity clothing collection bags unlicensed.
Both companies were found guilty of offences under the House to House Collections Act 1939.
Hand of Help UK Ltd was fined a total of £2,000 at Caerphilly Magistrates’ Court on January 3 for offences committed in Hendredenny and Pontllanfraith. Its director, Tomas Pocevicius, was fined a total of £500 for the same offences. Costs were also awarded to Caerphilly County Borough Council totalling £250.
Alra Clothing Ltd was fined a total of £340 at Newport Magistrates’ Court on December 22 for offences committed in the Blackwood area. The company was also ordered to pay costs of £505.
Cllr Rob Gough, cabinet member for public protection said: “It is imperative that companies undertaking door to door collections in our county borough have the correct documentation from the council to allow them to do this legally. I hope these prosecutions will act as a deterrent to others.”
A good tip for utilising these clothes collection bags is to use them instead of bin liners. I keep a bin in the kitchen for non-recyclable rubbish and have used charity bags for more than a year, instead of having to buy refuse sacks.
There are several clothes collection schemes run as scams by eastern Europeans in the area, what are the coincil doing about those?.