Householder to pay a total of £1,568.56 after unlicensed carrier dumps his waste at the roadside
A householder has to pay a total of £1,568.56 after an unlicensed carrier dumped his waste at the roadside.
On Wednesday 3rd October 2018, at High Wycombe Magistrates Court, a 41 year old man of Churchway, Haddenham pleaded guilty to an offence of failing in his household duty of care to properly dispose of waste.
The court heard that on Monday 19th February 2018 three sacks of household waste were found dumped off North Lee Lane, Terrick, near Aylesbury
The sacks were examined by an investigator from the Waste Partnership for Buckinghamshire, who found evidence within the waste which indicated that it came from the residence of the 41 year old man in Haddenham.
On Friday 9th March 2018, 41 year old man voluntarily attended for an interview in Aylesbury. During the interview, he explained that he had found a ‘man with a van’ online and arranged collection of the waste from his house for a payment of £25. He admitted that he made no checks as to whether the man was registered as an authorised waste carrier.
The failure to make any checks on the illegal carrier meant that the 41 year old man had failed in his duty of care under the law. The Magistrates fined him £496 and ordered him to pay clean-up and prosecution costs of £1,023.56. A victim surcharge of £49 was also levied, making a total to pay of £1,568.56.
Aylesbury Vale District Council Cabinet Member for Environment and Leisure Paul Irwin, speaking on behalf of the Waste Partnership for Buckinghamshire, said: ‘The reason we’ve recently launched the S.C.R.A.P. Fly Tipping campaign in Buckinghamshire is to to get householders such as this to avoid rogue operators when they need to dispose of waste.
Illegal carriers are a major source of fly tipping, and we’d like to remind people that if they fail to ensure that the person taking their waste away is licensed to do so, they are breaking the law. If their waste is then fly-tipped, they could end up with a criminal record.‘
The credentials of a waste carrier can easily be checked on the government website at https://environment.data.gov.uk/public-register/view/search-waste-carriers-brokers.
In August 2018 The Waste Partnership for Buckinghamshire launched its S.C.R.A.P. campaign to combat fly tipping. It urges anyone, either individuals or businesses, to ensure that they act on their legal duty of care to ensure that anyone who takes their waste away is registered and bona fide.
Since November 2003, the Waste Partnership has secured over 660 fly tipping convictions and a resulting significant saving to the Buckinghamshire taxpayer, principally through costs imposed by the court to cover removal and disposal costs. In Buckinghamshire fly tippers are 16 times more likely to be successfully prosecuted than in England as a whole.
Illegal dumping can be reported at www.fixmystreet.buckscc.gov.uk.
