Surveillance camera catches fly tipper in Burnham

Surveillance camera catches a fly tipper removing the waste from a van.

On Wednesday 14th September 2016 a 34 year old man of Kingsley Path, Slough pleaded guilty at Wycombe Magistrates Court to an offence of fly tipping.

The court heard that on Wednesday 9th March 2016 the man was caught on surveillance camera dumping a mattress and some carpet waste at a fly-tip hot-spot on Allerds Road, Burnham. The images were comprehensive and showed the man looking around and removing the waste from his van.

When interviewed at a police station the man fully admitted the dumping saying that he had made a ‘stupid mistake‘. He explained that he had been persuaded to take the waste for a customer and that he regretted his actions.

The magistrates fined the man £400 and ordered clean-up and prosecution costs to be paid in the sum of £863. A victim surcharge of £40 was also levied – making a total to pay of £1,303.

The dumped waste in situ.

Cllr Mike Smith, Chairman of the Waste Partnership for Buckinghamshire, said: ‘Household waste must be disposed of legally and responsibly. It is totally unacceptable to dump rubbish. I hope this latest prosecution sends out a stark warning to anyone contemplating dumping waste illegally that we will take legal action whenever possible.‘

The case was prosecuted by Buckinghamshire County Council working on behalf of the Waste Partnership for Buckinghamshire.

The surveillance camera programme is part of the Partnership’s ‘Illegal Dumping Costs‘ campaign which was set up in November 2003 to combat illegal dumping and waste management offences in Buckinghamshire.

Since the ‘Illegal Dumping Costs‘ campaign started the Waste Partnership for Buckinghamshire has secured 545 convictions against individuals and companies for illegal dumping and related offences. In total offenders have now been ordered to pay over £700,000 in fines and clean-up costs.

On average, since April 2010, there has been at least one conviction per week for illegal dumping offences in Buckinghamshire. This has resulted in a halving of reported incidents and a significant saving to the Buckinghamshire tax payer over the period, principally through reducing removal and disposal costs.

We’ve made reporting fly-tipping easy: upload details including location and photos online or on your mobile at www.buckscc.gov.uk/fly.