Small business owners have accused a council contractor of unfairly targeting them after being hit with £400 fines for alleged fly-tipping.

A café, a bar and a shoe shop are among the Barnet-based firms that have recently been stung with fly-tipping fines by private company NSL after items allegedly belonging to them were found outside their premises.

The business owners all protested their innocence after being fined by NSL, whose head office is in Oldham, Greater Manchester.

There is no formal way to appeal the fines, meaning people who have been penalised must either pay up or risk being taken to court.

Café Buzz, on High Road, North Finchley, was hit with a £400 fly-tipping fine after refuse that apparently came from the shop was found on the street.

Its owner, Helen Michael, said that just because a piece of litter from a shop had been found outside the premises, it did not mean the owner was responsible.

She said: “I don’t know how it happened – we have bins and god knows what else.

“They find a bit of rubbish, assume whoever it is and send a PCN (penalty charge notice).

“It is easy targets. We are already cash-strapped. The council have done a good job of decimating the High Street and want to hammer us on that as well.”

Ms Michael said she had refused to pay the fine and NSL had not been in touch with her since then.

Peter Wanders, who owns Wanders shoe shop on High Street, Chipping Barnet, was shocked to receive an FPN in April for alleged fly-tipping.

He said he was not sent any evidence but assumed it was due to a piece of cardboard he had left at the back of his shop, which he planned to use to cover the ground while painting the premises.

Mr Wanders said: “They could easily have popped their head round the door and said, ‘move that out of the way’.

“We had a huge amount of fly-tipping in our alleyway, which the council did nothing about.”

Mr Wanders wrote to his local councillor, Conservative member for High Barnet David Longstaff, who was “brilliant” and managed to get the fine overturned.

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He said: “Cllr Longstaff got involved in it and said, ‘enough, this is crazy’.

“Fly-tipping is fly-tipping – but this company want to make profits for themselves.”

The Bohemia, on High Road, North Finchley, was slapped with a fly-tipping fine when cardboard boxes bearing the bar’s name were found on a nearby street.

The leaseholder, Senan Fexton, said he believed homeless people had taken the cardboard – presumably to sleep on – after witnessing them do so on another occasion.

Mr Fexton said he was annoyed that he had not been given a warning before the fine was issued.

He said: “I would like to think someone could walk into my premises and say, ‘please do not do that’. It is common decency.

“The fact that I have a contract to take away my rubbish means there is no way we would be dumping rubbish.

“I do not think I feel well treated at all.”

Mr Fexton said he did not intend to pay the fine and was prepared to settle the matter in court.

The council recently said it would look into cutting the fines for first-time fly-tipping offences following complaints from people who had been penalised after leaving out items for recycling.

Local blogger Derek Dishman said: “The whole concept of letting the person who issues the penalty keep the income is wrong.

“I cannot see the justification for letting NSL be the judge and jury in their own court when it is the public wrong going to private profit.”

A Barnet Council spokesman said: “Fly-tipping is something the council works very hard to tackle. It costs the council tens of thousands of pounds every year to dispose of.

“Enforcing the law through measures such as fixed penalty notices is an important way of helping to keep the borough clean.

“Working to deter future fly-tipping will ultimately help reduce the cost to the taxpayer of clearing it up.

“Businesses have a duty to ensure that their waste is contained at all times and disposed of correctly.

“If residents or businesses do raise concerns about the issuing of a fixed penalty, we will always review the specific incident and cancel the fine if it has been issued in error.

“Last month, the council’s environment committee also agreed that the council should examine the option of introducing a lower rate penalty for some first-time fly-tipping offences.”

NSL was approached for comment.