A Bexleyheath businessman has been fined more than £2,000 after he breached trading regulations by storing more fireworks than he was legally allowed.
Robert Bishop, of Eaglesfield Road, Shooters Hill, was ordered to pay £2,461 after pleading guilty to breaching regulations over the quantity of explosives that can be stored at a registered site.
Bishop, 54, appeared before Bexley magistrates' court on June 29.
Trade Fireworks on Pickford Lane, Bexleyheath. Image from Google Maps.
The court heard that the limit for the storage of fireworks at his Trade Fireworks premises on Pickford Lane, Bexleyheath, was 250kg but Bishop was found to have stored almost double this during an inspection by Bexley's Trading Standards on August 22, 2014.
Bexley Council's prosecuting solicitor told the court the offence was serious because of the risk to public safety caused by storing more than the permitted total quantity of fireworks.
During mitigation, Bishop's defence said he had made a genuine mistake.
He had more than one licence regarding fireworks and incorrectly thought that each permitted storage of up to 250kg, and that he was therefore allowed to store a total of 500kg
Rejecting the defence's suggestion of a conditional discharge, the bench ruled that Bishop should have known better as an experienced businessman.
Taking into account the early guilty plea, Bishop was fined £1,000 and ordered him to pay £1,361 costs and a £100 victim surcharge.
Bexley magistrates' court.
Afterwards councillor Peter Craske, Bexley's Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Environment and Leisure said Bishop was "flouting legislation designed to protect people's safety".
He said: "Fireworks are dangerous explosives and it is the responsibility of those trading in them to make sure that they fully understand and follow the legislation in place."
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