Ealing Council has taken legal action against a company and its management that placed illegal clothing donation banks across the borough.
West Drayton-based 2020 Textiles placed unauthorised clothes collection banks in areas including Northolt, Southall, Acton and Greenford.
The donation banks looked like charity clothes banks but 2020 Textiles was selling the clothes on to make money. The council discovered the banks in 2023 and took the company and its two owners to court for obstructing the public highway without consent.
The full locations where the donation banks were placed were:
- Anglia Road in Norwood Green
- Beside the Lime Trees Children’s Centre in Northolt
- Rosedene Avenue UB6
- Essex Park Mews W3
- Behind Dreams on Western Avenue
- Outside the Freedom Worship Centre on Western Road
- Behind Nos 1-6 Villiers Road
- Regina Road
- Slip Road of the North Circular near Park Avenue
- Brent Road, Southall
- Kingston Road, SouthallDudley Road, Southall
- Lady Margaret Road
- Greenford carpark
At a hearing last week (11 February 2025) at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court the company owned jointly by Michael Hards, of Kneller Road, Witton and Rajesh Voralia, of Longfield Drive, Sheen was fined £14,143 in total.
The day-to-day running of the business was carried out by Mr Voralia, who is currently barred from being a company director after a separate court hearing in 2020. The court ruled that Mr Hards took no part in the management or running of the company – only maintenance or handyman work – and had no control over the business.
The court determined that Mr Voralia was more accountable for the offences connected with 2020 Textiles which he accepted and that it was run for-profit.
2020 Textiles, as a company, was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay £1,500 court costs and a victim surcharge of £2,500.
Mr Voralia was also fined £875 and ordered to pay costs of £400 along with a victim surcharge of £350 while Mr Hards was fined £227 and ordered to pay £100 costs and a £191 victim surcharge.
Councillor Paul Driscoll, Ealing Council’s cabinet member for climate action, said: “Companies like these place textile donation banks out in places just as actual charities do, like the Salvation Army. Residents then donate clothing thinking they are donating to a charity. But they are giving away their items to a for-profit organisation. It is a callous way of taking advantage of residents’ good nature, to make money for themselves. And it takes away donations from the real charities trying to help people in need. So, it is both anti-social and deceitful.”
Councillor Driscoll added: “I am pleased this particular company, and those running it, have been dealt with by the court and that our council officers moved to seize the banks it had placed around our borough. We will simply not tolerate this.”
