Failure to check who’s taking their rubbish away costs resident almost £600
Published: 17 May 2024
The fly tip on land off Stoney Lane in Spondon
City residents are being urged to check who is taking their rubbish away, after dumped household waste led to one resident being ordered to pay almost £600.
Derby City Council investigated following reports of a large fly tip on land off Stoney Lane, Spondon, in March 2023. The rubbish was traced back to someone who had recently moved house, but they were tracked to their new address.
They claimed they had paid someone to remove the waste, but had not checked to see if that person had a waste carrier licence. As a result they were issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice for £250 under Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act as they had a Duty of Care to ensure the proper disposal of waste. The fine would have been reduced to £125 if paid within ten days.
However the fine remained unpaid, so the case was taken to Derby Magistrates Court. Last month the judge fined the defendant £245, and also ordered them to pay £250 costs and a victim surcharge of £98, making a total of £593.
Councillor Hardyal Dhindsa, Derby City Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities and Streetpride, said:
Be careful about who you ask to remove your rubbish, because it’s your responsibility to make sure it’s properly disposed of. Always ask to see a tradesperson’s waste carrier licence. You can also check the public register of waste carriers on the Environment Agency website.
In this case perpetrator is now facing a bill which is more than twice the charge of the Fixed Penalty Notice because they failed to pay the fine at the first opportunity. This incident happened before Cabinet approved an increase in the fixed penalty for fly-tipping, which is now £600.
Fly-tips are a blight and the cost to the Council to remove them is currently £330,000 a year, which would be better spent elsewhere. We hope that increased fines and our partnership with Kingdom Local Authority Support will reduce this cost.
We are determined to work with our residents so they can take pride in where they live. We are making it easier for residents to dispose of items by providing access to Raynesway HWRC on Sundays without a booking, and introducing free bulky waste collection weeks. But we will not hesitate to issue heavy fines and enforcement for those who do not dispose of waste responsibly.