Coffee brouhaha over

THE owners of a Kingston beachfront coffee van have lost a drawn-out court battle after failing to prove they didn’ t need a council permit.

The two-year stoush was finally decided by the Full Court of the Supreme Court thisweek.

The dispute began after January 2018, when Anthony andDeborahGamble—who own the Kingston Beach Motel—allowed Shelley Slaghui sand Ritchie Paine to set up their T amp and Grind coffee business outside their property at Osborne Esplanade.

The Gambles provided chairs, an awning and artificial turf for the coffee cart. They didn’t receive any payment for doing so, but gained the advantage of their motel customers being able to use the coffee business.

Ms Slaghuis had obtained a certificate of registration, but none of the four applied for planning approval.

But Ms Slaghuis said she was told by the council she was able to operate her business anywhere in Tasmania provided she had the consent of the property owner.

Within days of their Australia Day launch, she and Mr Paine were soon visited by the council and advised they needed to apply for a permit, but they disagreed and continued without doing so.

The compliance officer returned a few weeks later to find they hadn’ t removed any of the set-up, but had added shade sails.

Kingborough Council took enforcement measures, Justice Michael Brett said in his judgment delivered on Wednesday, giving the cart operators and the motel owners an infringement notice and an enforcement notice.

But they “refused to stop the operation, and did not applyforapermit”.

The council then prosecuted them, with each of the four — plus the coffee cart companyitself—fined$1500 in the Hobart Magistrates CourtinDecember2018.

The group appealed to the Supreme Court of Tasmania, arguing that Kingborough Council had given full permission for coffee sales when it issued Tamp and Grind a food business registration,

and also when it had previously approved a development application for a cafe at the Kingston Beach Motel.

They also argued that even if they weren’t properly authorised by law to operate the

coffee cart, they’d made an honest and reasonable mistake in believing they were.

Justice Helen Wood largely dismissed the appeal but quashed Mr Paine’ s conviction and sentence.