Shop owner secures court victory over waste broker

Alex Yau

A SMALL shop owner has won a court battle against waste broker CheaperWaste, after using a Retail Express investigation into the company as supporting evidence.

On 25 January, Ritz Batavia, of Nisa Ritzy Minimarket in Peterborough, faced off against CheaperWaste at Newcastle Civil Family and Tribunal Court. The broker, part of the WasteManaged group, took legal action against Batavia after he cancelled his direct debit in a dispute over excess weight charges dating back to August 2019.

However, the court dismissed CheaperWaste’s legal challenge as Batavia successfully used evidence to plead his innocence, which included an investigation Retail Express conducted into the company in July 2022.

The investigation included accounts from small businesses that alleged CheaperWaste had not collected waste or similarly applied incorrect excess weight charges, leaving them hundreds of pounds out of pocket.

Facebook groups featuring various complaints against the broker were referenced in the piece. Other businesses also reported being taken to court by the company.

Describing his �ight, Batavia told Retail Express: “I became a CheaperWaste customer in May 2019 and they started charging for excess weight in August. I disputed these charges and they refused to listen, so I cancelled the direct debit in November 2019. I started being threatened by CheaperWaste in January 2020 with a few letters and they became more aggressive this year.

“One week they claimed the weight of the waste in my bin was 168kg. It would have over�lowed if you consider the type of waste a convenience store has.

“I had the court papers before I received the copy of Retail Express with the investigation into CheaperWaste. It showed me that I wasn’t the only one who had issues with CheaperWaste, which made me feel good.

“The article was amazing because it referred to a trading standards investigation by Newcastle City Council into the company, and referenced that the company wasn’t regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority to sell insurance.

“It was enough to submit with our bundle and made the judge aware of other retailers with similar problems.”

Batavia added that he also provided invoices from his waste contracts before and after he became a CheaperWaste customer to prove the store was a producer of small waste.

“A point the judge liked

Express

“As we’re in the middle of an estate, we’re quite blessed that we’re the only shop in the area, so we don’t have the competition of a second option. The people we serve coffee to are the same faces on a daily basis. When I initially got my Costa machine, it was about the brand. It looks really good and brings big brands to a local community. I was realistic, and two and a half years into it, it’s exactly what I thought it would be.”

Ken Singh, BB Superstore, Pontefract, West Yorkshire you was that we were with Nisa, so we could prove our recycling goes to DHL and food waste goes to a homeless shelter,” he said. “As a small shop, the only waste we have in the shop is from sweeping up lottery ticket stubs and general rubbish. There was proof that we weren’t making the level of waste CheaperWaste was claiming.

“We also did little things such as taking a picture of our waste bin to give the judge an idea of how much waste we produce. We did all these things to show the judge how the convenience your industry works.”

After reading Retail Express’s coverage, Batavia was encouraged to look up Google reviews of CheaperWaste and submit this with his evidence.

“I found 100 reviews and used them in the bundle,” he told Retail Express. “I also asked CheaperWaste for CCTV footage and calibration records from the bin lorries they used to collect my waste and wasn’t provided with that.

“They also provided their own records of the weights with dates which was on an Excel spreadsheet. It wasn’t generated using a proper weights and measurement system, and the judge accepted that point. Nobody from CheaperWaste turned up to the hearing as they left it all with their barrister.”

As part of his victory, Batavia said CheaperWaste was ordered to pay £166 in court fees to him. He added: “It covers my day at court and the travel costs. It’s not a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, but they’re paying me. It means that I’ve won.”

CheaperWaste failed to comment as Retail Express went to print.

How

are

you boosting your hot drinks profits?

“I bought our Lavazza machine outright for £1,000, which was between a third and a quarter better than the cheapest new machine that suppliers were offering. It seemed the most logical way to do it to make some money, rather than a five-year lease that would barely break even. All the cup sales go straight to us. Our target was 15 a day and we’re probably doing about 10 because we’re still getting it out there.”

David Lomas, Lomas News, Bury, Greater Manchester

“We are the first independent retailer to install a machine from Pret A Manger. It’s a well-known brand in and around London, and looks great in store. In Faversham, there are four places with Costa machines, whereas Pret is a big draw that you won’t be able to get anywhere else. Pret is supporting us with thermal bags to keep drinks warm and make sure they are delivered at the best possible temperature.”

Sandeep Bains, Welcome Faversham, Kent

Do you have an issue to discuss with other retailers? Call 020 7689 3357 or email megan.humphrey@newtrade.co.uk

IN-STORE SERVICES: A new self-serve juice machine is now available to local shops from iSqueeze. The Fantastic eXpress from Citrocasa has a 17kg orange capacity, and can clean itself within seconds between uses. Juice bottles are available in different size formats, including 250ml (£1.50-£2.50), 330ml (£2-£2.80), 500ml (£3-£4) and 1l (£4.25-£6).

For the full story, go to betterRetailing.com and search ‘iSqueeze’

COOK: The frozen ready meal supplier has confirmed it is taking on new partnerships with convenience stores once again, after pausing its concessions programme due to a cyberattack that happened at the end of 2021. Brand director Claire Postans said: “The pause was in place for three months and was lifted in February 2022.” She added the company is looking for franchisees for new Cook stores and existing shops to host concessions. ”We want to work with the best retailer for every community,” she said.

Good Week Bad Week

SMITHS NEWS: The news wholesalers’ Oxford depot has shut again due to a gas leak. After initially closing on 21 December, it closed again one day after reopening on 23 January. Despite praise for its efforts in rerouting drops from its Reading depot, stores reported increasingly feeling the strain from late deliveries.

MENTAL HEALTH: A fifth of small business owners are battling depression, a survey has revealed. The survey of more than 600 owners, carried out by insurance platform Simply Business, revealed that four in five owners are worried about how the costof-living crisis will affect their business, with 22% rating their mental health as “bad” and 18% as “very bad”.

JILL LUPUPA

THE government must encourage energy regulators and suppliers to allow business owners to renegotiate their contacts.

That was the call from the convenience sector ahead of existing support for local shops coming to an end in April.

The Guardian revealed last week that industry bodies, including the ACS and Federation of Small Businesses, sent a letter to business secretary Grant Shapps requesting fairer contracts for vulnerable stores.

“We are urging [the business department] and Ofgem to encourage energy suppliers to allow the most vulnerable businesses to renegotiate or ‘blend and extend’ their energy contracts to reflect significantly lower wholesale prices now available,” it read.

The letter said retailers should be able to renegotiate their contracts with energy suppliers if they can prove they signed their contracts at high prices, and that their contract ends after the existing energy scheme.

From April onwards, shops will only receive estimated discounts of 0.7% off gas and 2% off electricity bills.

The ACS described this as

“ultimately pointless” if it is not targeted to the businesses that are most at risk of closure.

Chief executive James Lowman said the lifeline given to stores “is now being cut, leaving many wondering how they’re going to keep their doors open from April”.

Fed national president Jason Birks added: “Additional financial support must be given for small businesses to survive.”