A PUB firm has been ordered to pay more the £2,500 after using parked vehicles to advertise the venue.
Juke Inns was taken to court by Wychavon District Council after repeated complaints from residents about a car and van parked off the A449 between Worcester and Kidderminster which promoted The Old Leaking Well in Dunhampton.
The vehicles were parked near to Crown Lane in Hartlebury and on a grass verge about half a mile north of the pub.
Officers had written to Juke Inns Ltd on three separate occasions – in September and December of last year and March of this year – telling them the vehicles were there illegally and needed to be removed.
Several visits, made on separate occasions, found one or both of the vehicles were parked in the areas residents had complained about.
Jonathan Turton, Juke Inns Ltd’s operations manager, pleaded guilty at Worcester Magistrates Court on behalf of the pub company to breaching advertising regulations and section 224 of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1990.
The company was fined £1,500, £855 costs and a £150 victim surcharge.
Mark Lister, defending, said the pub relied on passing trade and was trading at a loss which potentially put the jobs of ten staff at risk.
But the company accepted it had been warned about the vehicles and should have removed them.
Although the court could not order the removal of the vehicles, Mr Turton was warned if the case appeared before them again it would be viewed more seriously and the company could be fined for every day the vehicles were in place.
Graeme Duerden, development control manager for Wychavon District Council, said he was pleased with the sentence because the adverts were placed near a busy road with fast-moving traffic, posing an unnecessary and potentially dangerous distraction to motorists.
“To allow the company to carry on advertising illegally was also unfair on those companies who do abide by the rules,” he added.
