Barber fined for putting hair in wrong bag

A barber fined by Islington council for putting hair clippings in the wrong-coloured bin bag said today he would go to prison rather than pay.

Cosmo Cornelio, 74, is taking a stand after falling foul of a "bin snooper".

Mr Cornelio, who has run a salon in Caledonian Road for more than 40 years, said he put the hair into a regulation grey bag, but it split so he placed it in a black bag bought from a corner shop. He claimed the grey bag became damaged after sitting on the roadside uncollected by private contractor PHS Wastetech for up to a week.

A patrolling council "street environment officer" decided the rules had been broken and rummaged through the rubbish to find Mr Cornelio's name and address. The barber was told to pay a £60 fine, which will double if unpaid within two weeks.

He pays several hundred pounds a year for business waste collection by PHS Wastetech, plus £1 per grey bag.

Mr Cornelio said: "I'm willing to go to court on principle and I'll go to prison over this. It's the stupidity and pettiness of it all and I can't afford these sorts of fines. I am law-abiding and have done nothing wrong."

Mr Cornelio's neighbour, dental supplier David Johnson, said: "I believe he's been treated extremely harshly. He made an honest mistake."
Paul Smith, Labour-run Islington's executive member for environment, said: "The council wants everyone to dispose of their waste properly.

We've explained this to this shop before. We'd rather premises co-operate but if they don't, we can and will issue fines."

A PHS Wastetech spokesman said: "PHS Wastetech never deals with third parties when trying to resolve client issues and we encourage any clients that have issues to contact us directly."