Wiltshire Council warning to residents giving waste to rogue fly tippers

A former Wiltshire resident has been issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) for failing to check if the person who they paid £50 was licensed to take away her waste.

It was subsequently found fly tipped at Windmill Hill Plantation, Ludgershall.

The council was unable to trace the person(s) responsible for dumping the waste because the resident failed to comply with their legal duty of care and was unable to provide any information that could have identified the fly-tipper.

If the resident had correctly checked the waste carriers license details with the Environment Agency, provided details about the collectors and vehicle registration/description, this would have allowed Enforcement Officers to trace the offender and the resident would have avoided a Fixed Penalty Notice.

This Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) is set at £400 but reduced to £200 if paid within 10 days. Once a fixed penalty is issued, the recipients cannot be named as it's not a conviction in court.

Wiltshire Council's Environmental Enforcement team are processing many investigations currently and further formal actions will be conducted, including prosecutions in court. Recently, the council has also exercised new powers in seizing vehicles involved in fly-tipping with two such offenders vehicles in storage awaiting destruction.

Mark McClelland, Cabinet Member for Waste said:   

"It is the responsibility of householders to ensure they check and write down the waste carriers license details of anyone who you pay to take waste away.  It is also vital that people take down key information on those removing their waste. If they don't their waste may become fly-tipped and then they could be issued a fixed penalty.

"We desperately want to trace and prosecute the person(s) responsible for dumping rubbish, but we can only trace the fly tippers when residents comply with their duty of care by doing these checks and retaining the information.

"People should be wary about using a 'man with a van' or similar adverts on social media to dispose of waste. Many state they are licensed and are responsible but aren't and simply take the cash and dump the waste."

In a separate case, a Swindon man has been issued with fixed penalties totalling £700 for fly tipping waste in Broad Hinton, Wiltshire.

Environmental Enforcement Officers traced the waste back to another Swindon resident, who assisted the council in identifying the fly tipper after being duped from a social media advert for waste clearance. Officers investigated and conducted a detailed investigation in partnership with Wiltshire Police.  

The man was formally questioned about the offence under caution and issued with Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN) for fly tipping and waste duty of care offences by Wiltshire Council Environmental Enforcement Officers. Fixed penalties were deemed appropriate for this small scale fly-tipping, anything larger or hazardous would have resulted in a prosecution in court.

Mark McClelland, Cabinet Member for Waste said: "We are committed to increasing resources to crackdown on waste crimes like fly-tipping and littering. We've had success in prosecutions, but we will do more and stop people like this spoiling our beautiful countryside".

Residents can report fly tipping online by visiting www.wiltshire.gov.uk/mywiltshire-online-reporting, or calling 0300 456 0100.