A DEREGISTERED panel beater in Bayswater has been fined $18,000 for spray painting cars outside, leading to “huge clouds of paint” drifting to neighbouring businesses.
Irvine Street’s The Force in Smash Repairs had separately been subject to a Consumer Protection warning in September about money being taken from customers and work on cars not being done, allegedly poor paperwork, vehicles in legal cases for their release, and some cars being held for up to three years.
The business’s licence was not renewed in April and its name was deregistered in March.
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Owner Raymond John Goodall did not appear in Perth Magistrates Court last Friday to face six charges from the City of Bayswater of discharging a material into the environment .
City of Bayswater lawyer Peter Gillett told the court that reports of spray painting vehicles outside the workshop were made on July 3, 11 and 12.
Council officers spoke to Goodall about the pollution on August 16.
Mr Gillett said CCTV images from those three days showed what appeared to be “huge clouds of paint” going towards adjacent businesses.
He said Goodall told the officers spraying was being done outside because cars were in the way in the workshop and there was better light to match colours, but officers saw the internal spraying booth was being used for storage and other equipment.
The council had more reports of drifting paint spray from outside work on September 5, 6 and 27.
Magistrate Tanya Watt said it was “significant” that the outside spraying continued after the council officers’ visit .
“It’s a repetitive behaviour over time and a number of occasions,” she said.
She fined Goodall $4500 in total for the July offences, $3500 each for those in September and ordered he pay $1813 costs.