Laundrette owner put through the wringer

A well-known Brook Green businessman has been fined over £2,000 after he came clean about breaking the law.

Ahmad Washeghani Farahani, owner of Carmelina’s laundrette and dry cleaners on Richmond Way, appeared at West London Magistrates Court on March 17. He pleaded guilty to breaching an abatement notice to stop smells and steam from the laundrette entering the flats above. One resident had even taped up the joints between the window and frame to prevent steam and smells coming in through gaps.

Farahani, of Fielding Road, was told to pay a fine of £2,495, a £15 victim surcharge and £990 in costs to the council for refusing to replace a duct underneath residents’ flats with a new one, within a reasonable time specified by the council.

The abatement notice was served on Farahani in May last year but, despite gaining planning permission months later in September to fit the new duct, by January this year the work still had not been done. It was only a week before the court hearing that the work was eventually carried out.