A hairdresser has slammed the council for targeting businesses after she was told she would be fined for having graffiti on her door.

Helga Starup Williams was upset after arriving for work at North Street Hair in Brighton to find the salon had been vandalised by a tagger.

The salon then received a letter from Brighton and Hove City Council urging North Street businesses to clear tagging from their premises.

Helga was then told by environmental enforcement officers that the business faced a fine if it did not remove the graffiti.

Helga, the art director at the salon, said: “It’s upside down to me, it’s wrong to prosecute the victims.

“I think this is pretty unfair. We are the victim of the damage and we shouldn’t be fined.

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“Instead of fining businesses that have been damaged they should put more effort into finding the people doing it.”

Helga said she and her colleagues had tried to clean the graffiti off their glass door but had only partially been able to remove it.

The letter was part of a council initiative to clean up graffiti in targeted areas across the city on a fortnightly basis, with a current focus on North Street.

Some properties, including homeowners and charities, are exempt from fines.

The Argus: Graffiti on the door of North Street HairGraffiti on the door of North Street Hair (Image: NQ Staff)

But in the letter sent to businesses in the city, the council said: “We’re asking all commercial property owners to remove any graffiti from their property to support our effort of tackling graffiti in the area.”

A council spokesman said: "Graffiti is an issue we take seriously. We know it’s something that is upsetting and frustrating for many of our residents.

“We work with Sussex Police to try and tackle graffiti and prosecute offenders whenever we have the evidence to do so.

“We have also introduced Community Protection Warnings and Notices to help tackle graffiti. These allow us to work with the owners of commercial buildings and street furniture to try and get graffiti removed quickly.

“We only prosecute property owners as a last resort if they have ignored our warnings and notices.

“We only remove graffiti when it’s offensive or on council property. We aim to remove offensive graffiti and stickering within 24 hours of it being reported to us."

Graffiti can be reported on the council website.