Band's posters could have cost pub landlord £375,000

A PUB landlord says he was "gobsmacked" when he discovered he was liable for fines totalling up to £375,000 for posters put up around the town advertising a concert at his Kidderminster pub.

Dave Hipkiss, joint licensee of the Boars Head Taphouse, had not been involved with putting up the 150 posters advertising the gig by the band Monkeys' Punk this Sunday.

So he was horrified when a Wyre Forest District Council officer told him on Friday that he could be landed with a bill of up to £2,500 per poster.

He immediately sent out a team of people to remove them but has now warned other venues to beware of the potentially crippling fines.

He said he did not like flyposting and would put a "block" on any other bands doing it in the future.

Mr Hipkiss said: "I was totally and utterly gobsmacked when I heard this.

"I found out that morning that the posters had gone up and I was going to have a word with the band."

He said when the council officer visited "it put us into top gear to something done about it."

He added: "He's writing me a letter and I'll hand it to all the bands that play here."

Monkeys' Punk drummer, Dale Minaker, hit out at the action by the district council, saying although he appreciated he should not be putting up posters around the town, he was "disappointed" the council was not focusing on "much bigger issues".

The 30-year-old said he had recently opened the front door of his home in the Horsefair to find the "used" swab of a syringe covered in blood.

He added there used to be pillars in the town where bands could legally stick up posters but these were taken down during redevelopment.

District council spokeswoman, Suzanne Johnston-Hubbold, said fly-posting was illegal and "an anti-social activity that created a negative impression of the area.

She added: "Wyre Forest District Council is responsible - under the Environmental Protection Act - for the removal of fly posters from highways and has powers to take offenders to court.

"The maximum fine for fly posting is currently £2,500 per poster.