‘Spur of the moment’ decision to dump furniture leads to conviction for illegal dumping

The dumped furniture.

A man’s ‘spur of the moment’ decision to dump furniture at the roadside has led to a conviction for illegal dumping.

On Wednesday 4th March 2018 David James Thomas, aged 48, of Cherry Tree Road, Beaconsfield pleaded guilty at High Wycombe Magistrates Court to an offence of dumping waste furniture.

The court heard that at 7.43am on the morning of Thursday 17th August 2017 a surveillance camera targeting fly-tipping at Mumfords Lane, Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire captured images of a van driven by the 48 year old man as he deposited waste in the countryside. The man was traced as the driver of the van through the registration number.

When interviewed at a police station the 48 year old man admitted depositing the waste which he said he had done stupidly on the spur of the moment while taking a short cut to work.

The Magistrates fined the man £790 and ordered prosecution costs to be paid in the sum of £863. A victim surcharge of £79 was also levied – making a total to pay of £1,732.

Chiltern District Council Cabinet Member for Environment Mike Smith, speaking on behalf of the Waste Partnership for Buckinghamshire, said: ‘This man admitted to a stupid act. He dumped two wooden chairs rather than taking them to the household recycling centre, and ended up paying out £1,732 and getting a criminal record for what was a fairly small amount of waste.

Our fly tipping surveillance cameras are very effective at collecting evidence of illegal dumping in Buckinghamshire, and we’ll take people to court whenever possible. Better by far to use the county’s household recycling centres, which are free to householders.‘

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

Illegal dumping can be reported online at www.buckscc.gov.uk/fly.