LOCAL residents and businesses are being warned to be cautious when hiring waste disposal firms after a huge amount of rubbish collected from a property in Lydney was found dumped along a Herefordshire roadside.
Herefordshire Council announced yesterday (Tuesday, May 3) that it had won an enforcement case against a man found guilty of two counts of fly-tipping in one evening within the county.
The council said the man, George Bradley, also “failed in his duty of care” when he collected a trailer full of waste he had been paid to take away.
Mr Bradley was paid £120 to collect the waste from a house clearance in Lydney on May 24, 2020.
It was later found “strewn on the roadside” along Clay Hill in Dormington, near Hereford, and at the side of a country lane in Pixley, near Ledbury.
The council’s community protection team found evidence at both scenes that led them to Bradley.
Mr Bradley, who had a previous conviction for fly-tipping, was given a 12-month community order consisting of 150 hours of unpaid work and was ordered to pay costs of £2,066.
He was also handed a victim surcharge of £95 for two counts of fly-tipping, failing to transfer the waste to an authorised person and not producing waste transfer notes.
Marc Willimont, Herefordshire Council’s head of public protection, said businesses have a responsibility to ensure their waste is disposed of correctly following Mr Bradley’s conviction.
He said: “Fly-tipping is a serious environmental crime and a blight on our beautiful countryside.
“Every year, tens of thousands of pounds of council tax payers’ money is spent on clearing up fly-tipping and regulating unlawful waste disposal.
“Businesses do this to avoid the cost of disposing of their waste properly.
“They must ensure appropriate measures are in place so their waste is disposed of correctly and lawfully.
“All businesses must also have documentation to show who they have transferred the waste to and keep those records for at least two years.
“Anyone found fly-tipping waste will always be prosecuted.”