‘Tab house’ tobacco counterfeiters and fly-tippers among targets tackled by South Tyneside Council

The last six months has seen 37 warnings, two suspensions and revocations and 16 enforcement letters of rectification dished out by local authority officers.

The borough council, which has powers to deal with a range of offences breaching regulations and risk the health and lives of families, also took on several successful prosecutions.

And action was rewarded by the courts, with penalties including a six-month driving ban and 120 hours of community service for a fly-tipping offence.

“This report demonstrates what our services have been doing whilst trying to recover from the pandemic and getting back to normal working environments,” Laurence Waldock, the council’s operations manager for licensing, told last week's meeting (March 18) of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee.

“This period has been extremely tough and with recovery also comes the responsibility to regulate fairly and proportionately”.

Operations over recent months have also seen three vehicles seized and destroyed, a total of 15 prosecutions for various waste offences and 19 fixed penalty notices issued.

Teams also inspected 175 vehicles reported as abandoned, 19 of which have been scrapped and 26 referred to Northumbria Police.

Up to 300 noise complaints were also probed, with 210 investigations concluded and informal action taken.

In the private sector housing, a range of enforcement notices were served linked to living conditions, including 10 abatement notices and four emergency prohibition orders requiring the “permanent closure of residential properties due to serious and imminent risk”.

Trading Standards also had several successes, including a prosecution linked to a ‘tab house’ operating in Hebburn, following the seizure of 2.9kg of hand rolling tobacco and 6,120 cigarettes.

According to a report prepared for the panel, the cigarettes were found to be “counterfeit and unsafe” because they were “not designed to self-extinguish when left unpuffed”.

Waldock added the report demonstrated the wide range of work the council had undertaken.

He added: “I know this is just a snapshot, but it demonstrates how the local authority’s regulatory services, and sometimes statutory duties and responsibilities, have continued and indeed evolved throughout these tough times”.

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