Fly-tipping leads to bill of £440
A Welshpool man whose household waste ended up fly tipped at Llandrinio Village Hall after he paid an unlicensed operator to dispose of it, has been fined.
Danny Warner admitted failing to take measures to secure the authorised transfer of household waste, when he appeared at Llandrindod Wells Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
The 30-year-old of Maesowen said a clothes dryer and a baby’s cot dumped at the village hall did come from his home, but some other items were not his and must have been fly-tipped by someone else.
Prosecuting for Powys County Council, Mr Rob Brown, said that in January last year a county council officer came across a large deposit of domestic waste at Llandrinio Village Hall car park.
It was examined, photographs were taken and some documentation – envelopes from the Royal Mail containing Warner’s address – were discovered in the waste.
Officers attended at his home address and Warner’s partner said he had arranged for the disposal of the items.
Checked
In interview, Warner said he paid an unlicensed operator to dispose of the items. He admitted that he had not checked if the operator was licensed.
Mr Brown said the local authority had since cleared up the rubbish at a cost of £450.
Mr Rob Hanratty, defending, said some of the rubbish which had been fly tipped was nothing to do with Warner. He said Warner had paid an operator to take the rubbish ad he thought it was going to be taken to Potters, the Recycling Centre.
“There was no intent that fly tipping should take place here but he was ignorant that unlicensed individuals should not be dumping waste for people,” said Mr Hanratty.
He said the public should be warned that even if a person got a friend to take rubbish for them to a recycling centre, if some of it did not find its way to the centre, that person could still be prosecuted for failing to ensure the transfer of waste.
Mr Hanratty said local authorities can now give a fixed penalty for fly tipping offences but Mr Brown said this offence happened before the new law came in and so a fixed penalty could not be applied in this case.
Magistrates fined Warner £200 and he was ordered to pay £200 costs and a £30 surcharge.
