A shopkeeper has been ordered to pay hundreds of pounds after piles of rubbish were left outside her former store.

A picture released by Canterbury City Council (CCC) shows the “eyesore” waste dumped outside now-closed Sweet Snax in Northgate, Canterbury.

Kiran Khalid, 38, of Harlow in Essex, had run the shop until November last year when the store permanently closed.

Having left the property on November 5, reports were made the same day to CCC’s environmental crime team about the huge pile of rubbish left on the street outside.

Officers attended and found evidence linking the rubbish to the shop and made attempts to contact its occupant.

Ms Khalid, who had left the area to set up a new food establishment, ignored the council’s letters and also failed to attend two previous court hearings.

Eventually, a warrant without bail was issued for her arrest and Essex Police located Khalid at an address in that county.

On Tuesday, July 2, Ms Khalid pleaded guilty at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court and was fined £180 for failing to produce a waste transfer note and £180 for failing to manage waste to prevent any other person fly-tipping it.

She was ordered to pay court costs of £300 and a victim surcharge of £72 – putting her total payment to £732.

Cllr Connie Nolan, Canterbury City Council’s cabinet member for community engagement, safety and enforcement, said: “We all have a responsibility to dispose of our waste properly and that goes for businesses too.

“They must put arrangements in place for commercial waste to be collected and disposed of properly.

“As you can see from the picture, when this doesn’t happen it creates a complete mess and an eyesore which affects everyone’s quality of life and blights nearby businesses too.

“We gave the defendant every opportunity to help our Environmental Crime Officers with their investigation and to explain why she put her waste outside the front door of her shop rather than pay for the services of a commercial waste contractor to take it away.”