Dairy operators who let heavy goods vehicles drive in and out of the site at all hours of the day and night have been ordered to pay a record £58,000 for breaching planning restrictions.

The owners of the Nijjar Dairy, which trades as Freshways, repeatedly flouted rules banning them from moving lorries around between the hours of 6pm and 7am, with up to 1,000 movements a day – one every 90 seconds – recorded at the premises in Eastman Road, Acton.

The firm also refused to plant trees act as a noise barrier and visual screen, as had been ordered by Ealing Council's planning enforcement team, and was ultimately taken to court for operating outside the law.

The restrictions banned lorries from entering or leaving the site before 7am or after 6pm Monday to Saturday, or at all on Sundays, and from engines or refrigerator units being left running in the yard.

Three members of the Nijjar family, Balvinder, Rajinder and Gurbaksh, were told to pay £57,710, the largest sum ever secured by Ealing's enforcement officers, at Acton Magistrates' Court on February 24.

Julian Bell, leader of Ealing Council, said: "This is a substantial fine for a company who repeatedly ignored planning notices over a prolonged period of time. I hope this sends a clear message to other businesses that we will not hesitate to take action on non-compliance of planning conditions.

"Had Nijjar Dairies taken the simple actions we advised they would have avoided this fine and they would have avoided disturbing their neighbours with this noise nuisance."

Balvinder Nijjar was fined £24,000 for two vehicle movement offences and £5,000 for a landscaping offence, and told to pay £1,600 court costs.

Rajinder Nijjar and Gurbaksh Nijjar were each fined £10,000 for two vehicle offences and £2,000 for a landscaping offence, and told to pay court costs of £1,600 and £1,511 respectively.

The fine comes 18 months after the firm lost a battle at Central London County Court against neighbouring firms in the Eastman Industrial Estate, who challenged Nijjar's decision to ban them from parking their own vehicles in Eastman Road, as had been common practice for more than 20 years.