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A council has been criticised for taking to court a company that is trying to keep London tidy.
Westminster is acting against minicab company Addison Lee after it provided about 16,000 free cigarette bins for smokers outside pubs and restaurants.
In a test case, the Tory-run authority claims that it has broken planning laws by advertising itself on the Adbins, placed at seven sites in the Marylebone conservation area.
But the minicab firm - Europe's largest with 2,400 vehicles - says it is being "bullied" by an over-bureaucratic council. It calls Westminster's action perverse, coming as it does after a council crackdown on smokers that involved handing out £80 on-the-spot fines to people seen discarding cigarette butts.
Addison Lee chairman John Griffin told the Standard he hoped to call Mayor Boris Johnson as a witness when the case goes before City of Westminster magistrates on September 29. The hearing was postponed this week.
His company began giving pubs and restaurants the metal bins, at a cost to Addison Lee of about £50 each to buy and maintain, after England's smoking ban was introduced in 2007. They are fixed to walls in external smoking areas and enable smokers to dispose of cigarettes without littering.
A further 5,000 bins are planned. Some featured an advert for the taxi company, but the latest ones do not because, it says, the post-pub trade is not its target market.
Mr Griffin said: "There is a law now which requires businesses to make receptacles available so people don't throw cigarette butts on the floor. As part of our attempt to help people to comply, we supply these bins at zero cost to them. Westminster are trying to say we need planning permission.
"But whenever we put the bin up, we get the permission of the restaurant. If the restaurant needs planning permission, that's a matter for them."
Mr Griffin added: "He [Boris] has said the Adbins are a commendable effort to keep London tidy. In the meantime, Westminster have decided they want to bully us. Nobody else is bothered about it."
Murad Qureshi, a Labour London Assembly member, said: "This is daft action by the City of Westminster, considering most of the cigarette butts would have ended up on the streets."
Westminster declined to comment.
Reader views (16)
Westminster are just peed off they didn't get to charge AL when they gave (or not) permission.
MONEY MONEY MONEY eh, you greedy council you!
- Charlie, London, 29/09/2010 15:06
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If Mr Griffin had obtained the correct permission in the first place this would obviously not be a news item, how many times has this man obtained "free" advertising whilst other law abiding companies stick to the rules and pay the penalties?
For sure its a great idea of Mr Griffins, but why not do it without the free advertising on the outside? Pretty sure he would have shunned that idea....
- David, London, 15/08/2010 00:51
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If small laws get broken, then bigger laws will get broken as well eventually. That's why our Country is in a state, because of abuse of our system.
Addison Lee done this for their own free advertising, "Not" in the interests of anyone else... It's just a freebie business tactic.
Yes, it is a good idea to have ashtrays outside venues, but nothing is free in life, even for Addison Lee.
EC,
- EC,, Cranbrook, Kent, 14/08/2010 22:01
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I wonder if the council needs planning permission to land one of their councillors a punch?
- Bandit 2, Pakondon, 14/08/2010 20:04
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What could be worse for the Council,
A Gay Smoker
Time to end the smoking ban and the discrimination.
- tug, skegness,england, 14/08/2010 17:58
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WCC are so bizarre - it's just a relentless pursuit of more money.
If you try to stop us fining people for dropping cigarette ends, we'll decide that you need planning permission for your socially-minded, environmentally-friendly philanthropic gesture.
Have ANY Wastemonster residents EVER complained??
They seem to have a real downer on environmentally friendly initiatives (like powered two-wheelers).
Unless, of course, they can tax it.
Wastemonster Council are a disgrace and an embarrassment and the mutitudious wrong-doings need exposing at every opportunity.
- Bandit, Londonistan, 13/08/2010 17:43
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They are just annoyed that people will have some where to put their fags so less chance of them nicking someone for littering.
By the way who is now the King of Westminster as they seem to have an awful lot of power these days it often appears they have more power to prosecute than the UK Government. Oh and I forgot their fines are often far hirer than a criminal gets from a court.
- Mike Melbourne, Bedford, 13/08/2010 17:17
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"The council is just annoyed that their plans to further tax us for dropping fag butts have been disrupted." - Amir.
Unfortunately, that does seem to be the most likely truth.
Pretty much any other country in the world would be pleased that a private company is spending large sums of its own money to improve the local environment - it would be called being 'civic minded'. Here in Bureaucratic Britain they end up in court.
Madness.
- John, London, 13/08/2010 12:23
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So Westminster Council prefer to see streets littered with fag ends rather than allowing Addison Lee this sensible solution, even though they are advertising themselves, so what! Has anyone been to Waterloo Station and seen all the butts on the floor by the so called 'smoking area'? Maybe if they had recepticals for cigarette butts people could use them, then if they didn't comply they'd be justified in giving them a fine for dropping them on the pavement! This is just so typical of a society with morons in positions of authority who really have lost the plot.
- Sue, Kent, 13/08/2010 12:06
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And Westminster leaves the squatters by the houses of Parliament
The system seems to be attack those who work, wonderful the way our civil servants think
Up ways to stop industry & trade these people seem to a lode of muppets
- David Skeggs, Paris France, 13/08/2010 11:46
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Westminster Council are a disgrace and the actions are typical. Currently they are also apparently harassing gay bars in Soho, there plan being to drive them from the area.
- John David, London, 13/08/2010 11:45
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And Westminster leaves the squatters by the houses of Parliament
The system seems to be attack those who work, wonderful the way our civil servants think
Up ways to stop industry & trade
- David Skeggs, Paris France, 13/08/2010 11:37
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Seems Westminister Council are very quick to move litter/smoking bins off the pavements, but can’t even move the true riff-raff of mess pretending to protest on pavements outside Parliament!
- Jamie, London, 13/08/2010 11:18
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You would have thought the council would have been grateful for this kind of initiative by Addison Lee. I mean it's not as though they are advertising cigarettes or alcohol. They provide a good reliable service and hopefully the drunks in the pub will use them to get home instead of driving drunk. Bunch of governmental morons.
- James Kaster, London, England, 13/08/2010 11:17
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The council is just annoyed that their plans to further tax us for dropping fag butts have been disrupted.
- Amir, London, 13/08/2010 11:09
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They are certainly unsightly, but then so are TV aerials and dishes.
- Don, Sheen, 13/08/2010 10:59
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