Pizza vendor prosecuted for illegal operations
A mobile pizza shop illegally operating from a shipping container in Colo Vale has been closed with the operator ordered to pay $34,000 by Moss Vale Local Court following successful prosecution by Wingecarribee Shire Council.
Local Court Magistrate Douglass ordered the defendant pay $34,000 for operating without consent plus a further $11,000 to cover Council’s legal costs.
In handing down his decision, Magistrate Douglass said the defendant had operated without proper consent, compliance with building codes or health standards.
The Court was also concerned that the defendant had continued operations despite repeated approaches by Council to cease operations. In his summations Magistrate Douglass said the defendant had undertaken his illegal operations both deliberately and for commercial benefit.
Magistrate Douglass suggested that the sentence and the public attention it may attract, may serve as a deterrent to others contemplating undertaking business without proper approvals from Council.
In a letter of apology tendered to the Court the defendant acknowledged that his actions had the potential to place the lives of his customers at risk.
The operator was also ordered to remove the shipping container from which the illegal business had traded within 60 days and restore the land on which the structure had been erected to its original condition.