A HAIRDRESSER faces a £2,300 court bill because he refuses to stop attaching advertisements to roadside bollards.

York magistrates heard that City of York Council had tried for six years to stop Terry Smith, who runs Classic Cutz in Tang Hall, from fixing cardboard notices to safety equipment at the junction of Fourth Avenue and Melrosegate.

Mark Bradley, for the council, said Smith refused to pay the costs of removing his illegal posters, had a county court judgment taken out against him, repeatedly flouted an enforcement notice and ignored a police warning that he was breaking the law.

Council staff mounted undercover surveillance on the bollards and caught him on CCTV using screws to fix a notice on cardboard which said “Barber shop now open, come in” and included an arrow pointing towards his shop.

Michelle Watling, street environment officer, said of the notices: “We have removed them on a regular basis. I have got a huge collection of them back at the office and he just continues to put them up.”

Smith, 44, was not in court to be tried on six charges of breaching an enforcement notice on six dates between September 1 and November 15 last year and was convicted in his absence. He was fined £600, plus £1,715.50 prosecution costs, plus £15 victim surcharge.

Magistrates decided to hear the trial after hearing of the council’s attempts to serve the evidence on him and notify him of his court date.

Ms Watling said she had gone to the salon and handed Smith a copy of the summons addressed to him. His reply was: “You have got the wrong person, it’s not me.”

She pointed to newspaper clippings on the salon’s counter showing pictures of Smith with the name Terry Smith under them.

Smith threw the summons out of the salon, she said. She and her colleague handed it back and when they left he threw it after them. Later, it was sent back to York Magistrates Court.

Mr Bradley told the court the council had had complaints from residents for years about the signs.