A company has been ordered to pay more than £1000 in fines and costs for illegally erecting scaffolding.
Cross Scaffolding Sussex Ltd’s two directors, Kevin Cross and Melanie Beamount, were prosecuted by Brighton and Hove City Council.
They were charged with putting up scaffolding without a licence in Norfolk Square, Crescent Place, Montpelier Road, Grand Parade, Bedford Square and Temple Street in August last year.
The council’s Highways Enforcement team first became aware of the unlicensed scaffolding in October 2020.
Despite numerous requests to the Pevensey-based company to apply for the required licences, which others had continued to do throughout the pandemic, applications were never received.
Last Friday (4 February), Brighton Magistrates’ Court was told that a guilty plea had been entered on behalf of the company.
A magistrate ordered the company to pay a £100 fine for each property, totalling £600. The company was also ordered to pay £350 in costs and a £60 victim surcharge.
Councillor Steve Davis, co-chair of the council’s Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee, said: “I hope this serves as a warning to others that we won’t tolerate this kind of behaviour.
“Illegally placed scaffolding can be very dangerous. We will treat any threat to public safety extremely seriously and seek prosecution where we feel people are being put in danger.”
As part of the Highways Act 1980 all companies, contractors and householders who want to put objects on the public highway need to obtain a licence from the council.
Cross and Beaumont are also the directors of Polegate-based Advance Scaffolding (Sussex) Limited.
