A DRIVEWAY company based in Pucklechurch has been ordered to pay more than £4,500 after posting hundreds of illegal ads on the streets.
South Gloucestershire Council prosecuted Everset Driveways Ltd and boss John Joseph McDonagh, of Meadow View, Shortwood Road, after 113 advertising boards were found posted on street furniture in the district between September 2022 and October 2023 alone.
The council said it operates a “three strikes” policy to fly-posting and warned the company in January and July 2022 before issuing a £75 fixed penalty four months later, which was paid, and giving the firm a community protection warning to stop placing the ads, except those directly outside addresses where they were working.
In October and November last year street enforcement officers found six advertising boards and signs at a single road junction in Kingswood, seven at a roundabout in Filton, two at a junction in Yate and several propped up some distance from an address they were working at in Kingswood.
The council said some were propped on boards and pallets, and “had the potential to have been knocked over or have fallen, causing injury or hazard to pedestrians”.
McDonagh was convicted in his absence of placing advertising boards on council-owned street furniture without permission, at Bristol Magistrates Court in March.
He was fined £2,500 and told to pay £1,063 in costs and £1,000 in compensation, making a total of £4,563.
Magistrates said they would have issued fines for each of the 113 boards individually, had this been possible.
Council environmental enforcement team leader Robert Evely said: “After discovering such a vast amount of fly posted advertising material across South Gloucestershire we were left with no other option than to prosecute the business.
“The sheer number of offences discovered constitutes a significant use of council resources, as well as presenting a risk to pedestrians due to their placement, and a risk to highway users due to the obvious distraction they can present.”
To report a problem to the council visit www.southglos.gov.uk/report, call the StreetCare helpdesk on 01454 868000 or email streetcare@southglos.gov.uk.