A restaurant owner has been fined for dumping bags of rubbish outside his premises.

Pascal Madjoudi, who runs La Fourchette restaurant in Western Road, Hove, and La Petite Fourchette in East Street, Brighton, admitted two offences of failing to comply with his duty of dealing with trade waste and two offences of abandoning the refuse in the street.

The court heard Dayn Clarke, Brighton and Hove City Council's waste regulation officer, found several black rubbish bags on the kerb outside the East Street restaurant early one morning in March.

He returned later and the sacks had not been moved. He looked inside and found trade waste from the restaurant.

As the restaurant was closed, the city council believed the bags must have been left outside from the previous evening.

Meanwhile, a member of the city council's waste action team noticed a pile of sacks outside the Western Road restaurant.

Madjoudi told the magistrates he had now got contracts for the removal of trade waste by reputable companies.

He said he did not fully appreciate the law and was just interested in providing good food for the people of Brighton.

He was fined £125 for each offence and ordered to pay £250 costs to the city council.

After the hearing, Len Batten, who prosecuted the case for the city council, said: "This case was brought by the city council as part of its plan to create a clean environment and to make the city a place where people can enjoy themselves in a litter-free area."