10/01/2006 - A Poole man’s involvement in a fly-tipping
incident cost him £1,000 in fines and costs when he
appeared before Bournemouth magistrates in a case brought
by the Environment Agency. Luke Winters also spent eight
hours in custody after handing himself in to police after
magistrates issued a warrant for his arrest when he failed
to turn up at three previous hearings.
The court heard how a member of the public saw domestic
rubbish being unloaded from a white flat-bed truck at Rigler
Road, Poole on February 3, 2005. He challenged the fly-tipper
who jumped into the vehicle and drove off.
The witness had noticed a second man and a woman sitting
in the truck while the rubbish was being kicked off the
back of the vehicle. The dumped material included garden
waste, fencing, black bin bags and broken toys.
He wrote down the registration number and reported the
incident to the Environment Agency. The waste was later
cleared by Poole Borough Council. On March 18, 2005, An
Environment Agency officer traced the flat-bed truck to
a property in Rockley Road, Poole. Among items still on
the vehicle were a bed-base, carpet, tv and cardboard boxes.
On April 19, 2005 the same vehicle was seen parked outside
the defendant’s property in Rockley Road loaded with a bed
case, mattress and various small white goods. Winters failed
to accept an invitation to be interviewed by the Environment
Agency.
Appearing before Bournemouth Magistrates on Monday (January
9), Winters, 21, was fined £300 and ordered to pay
£700 costs after pleading guilty to being the owner
of a vehicle used to deposit controlled waste on land at
Rigler Road, Hamworthy, Poole that did not have a waste
management licence in force contrary to Section 33(5) of
the Environmental Protection Act 11000.
Magistrates issued a warrant for his arrest after he failed
to turn up for three previous hearings. Syan Tapp, prosecuting
for the Environment Agency, explained to the court that
fly-tipping could cause pollution, harm wildlife and often
encouraged further fly-tipping at the same site
‘Fly-tipping is anti-social and costly. There is no excuse
for such behaviour when facilities exist for the safe disposal
of household waste. The people who commit such offences
have no regard for the environment or the law,’ said Anita
Stevens for the Environment Agency.
Members of the public can report fly-tipping by calling
the Environment Agency’s free 24-hour pollution hotline
0800 80 70 60.
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