Fly tipping in the Little Marlow area results in two convictions

The waste dumped at Muschallik Road.

Two instances of fly tipping in the Little Marlow area have both resulted in convictions.

On Wednesday 24th July 2019 at Wycombe Magistrates Court, in two separate hearings, guilty pleas were entered for offences relating to waste fly tipped in the Little Marlow area by commercial operators.

The first case concerned waste found dumped in Monkton Lane, which runs parallel with the A404.

Evidence in the waste led investigators to a private house in High Wycombe, when approached, the householder said they had paid a 31 year old man of Hughenden Road, High Wycombe to take away the waste.

The 31 year old man was subsequently interviewed at High Wycombe Police Station where he said he had paid a casual acquaintance to take the waste off of him, however he had completed no paperwork and had not checked on whether the man was licensed.

The 31 year old man was fined £1,600 by the magistrates for failure in his duty of care regarding the waste and ordered that he pay £1,276 in investigation, legal and clean-up costs. A victim surcharge of £170 was also levied, bringing the overall total to £3,046.

The waste dumped at Monkton Lane.

The second case related to waste that had been deposited on Muschallik Road, a private road leading from the A4155 Marlow Road to Thames Water’s Little Marlow Sewage Treatment Works (see picture at top of page). The road has for some time been blighted by commercial fly tipping activity.

Thames Water do not actually own the land across which the road passes as it is owned by a private landowner not currently resident in the UK. Vehicles operated by Thames Water need constant access along the road and as a result it is left unsecured and therefore open to fly tippers.

Investigators found evidence in one batch of waste that led them to a construction site that had been operated by a building firm.

During an interviewed conducted at a Kent police station, a director of the building company said that the company had paid cash to a man known only as ‘Brian’ to remove the waste. Apparently ‘Brian’ had been used by the company on a number of occasions however the company had no means of contacting him or tracing him and no checks had been carried out as to whether he was licensed.

The court held that the company had therefore failed in its duty of care over the waste. The magistrates issued a fine of £2,400 and awarded costs against the company of £1,077.30. A victim surcharge of £170 took the total due to £3,647.30.

Speaking on behalf of the Waste Partnership for Buckinghamshire,Julia Adey, Cabinet Member for Environment at Wycombe District Council, said: ‘These cases emphasise the problem we have with commercial fly tipping, especially in the southern parts of the county.

Waste criminals rely on anonymity, so I’d ask anyone disposing of waste – whether a business or a householder, to always ensure that anyone who carries away waste for them has a licence to do so. And to always have written evidence of the transaction, which makes the carrier far less likely to contemplate fly tipping.‘

The cases were prosecuted by Buckinghamshire County Council working on behalf of the Waste Partnership for Buckinghamshire.

Anyone who wishes to report illegal dumping in Buckinghamshire can do so on the www.fixmystreet.buckscc.gov.uk website.