Chain stall director of Ka Wo Farming Limited convicted for causing noise nuisance by repeatedly playing promotional recordings
​Two chain butchers' shops operated by Tin Full Food Limited and Colchester Foods Company Limited located at Tong Mei Road in Mong Kok and Hop Choi Street in Yuen Long respectively and a vegetable chain stall operated by Ka Wo Farming Limited at San Chuen Street in Tsuen Wan caused noise nuisance to nearby residents by persistently playing promotional recordings using loudspeakers at their front doors. They were fined a total of $12,500 by Kwun Tong Magistrates' Courts on November 15 and Fanling Magistrates' Courts on November 20 and today (November 27) respectively for contravening the Noise Control Ordinance (NCO). The director of Ka Wo Farming Limited was also convicted and held criminally liable for her stores' repeated offences. She was fined $4,000.
An Environmental Protection Department (EPD) spokesman said that complaints were received from members of the public about the noise nuisance caused by some stalls at Tong Mei Road in Mong Kok, Hop Choi Street in Yuen Long and San Chuen Street in Tsuen Wan. The stalls used loudspeakers to play promotional recordings persistently and adversely affected nearby residents. The EPD conducted several inspections and enforcement actions and during the operations in May and June, it was found that the butchers' shops and the vegetable stall concerned used loudspeakers and the noise generated annoyance. The department subsequently prosecuted the stalls in accordance with the NCO. Separately, three outlets operated by Ka Wo Farming Limited, which are located in Tsuen Wan, Yuen Long and Kwun Tong, had been convicted a total of five times this year for contravening the NCO by causing noise nuisance to nearby residents by playing promotional recordings.
After a series of enforcement actions, the situation of the aforementioned stalls improved. The EPD will continue to closely monitor the situation and will prosecute the responsible person of the operating company for stalls with repeated contraventions.
The spokesman reminded persons responsible for retail shops and market stalls that when they play promotional recordings to sell goods, they should contain the noise level within their shop area and should not cause annoyance to other people outside their shops or nearby residents. Otherwise, it constitutes an offence, and offenders are liable to a maximum fine of $10,000. For stores with repeated contraventions, the operator himself will also be criminally liable for the offence once convicted.