A man who dumped waste at the roadside in Grantham has been sentenced to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work following a prosecution by South Kesteven District Council.
Richard Atkinson (30), of Tennyson Avenue, Grantham, pleaded guilty at Lincoln Magistrates Court to three offences of fly tipping under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
The court was told how an SKDC Neighbourhoods Officer traced evidence back to three members of the public, who had all paid the defendant to dispose of their waste after answering his Facebook advert. Atkinson had claimed to be fully licensed for waste disposal.
Atkinson received a 12-month Community Order with the condition to complete unpaid work for 100 hours, reduced to 80 hours for an early guilty plea. He was also told to meet the clean-up costs of £350 and ordered to pay a £95 victim surcharge. No claim for the cost of the prosecution was made because of his limited income.
During the sentencing, the magistrates told the hearing that they “took a very dim view of these offences and this is a serious offence”.
After the hearing, SKDC Cabinet Member for Waste and Climate Change, Cllr Mark Whittington, said: “We agree with the magistrates about how serious this incident is, and the good news is that the perpetrator will carry out unpaid work in the very community that he has offended against.
“This kind of activity is antisocial, bad for the environment and shows an immense disrespect for our beautiful South Kesteven countryside.
“SKDC has a zero-tolerance policy on fly-tipping and will prosecute whenever we can. This is where we rely on the public to report anything suspicious to help secure evidence and get a result in court.
“Social media is just one place where unscrupulous waste carriers ply for trade, but householders are reminded that they have a legal duty of care to check that anyone they use to remove rubbish from their home is a licensed waste carrier.”
Residents should ask to see the licence and can check licence details at the Environment Agency website at https://bit.ly/check-waste-carrier
SKDC clean-up teams will remove fly-tipping from public land following investigation. Incidents should be reported on 01476 406080 or at www.southkesteven.gov.uk/flytipping
In mitigation, Atkinson told the court that he had previously operated a legitimate waste business but was banned from the local waste disposal site due to the amount of waste he was taking there.
This meant that waste accumulated in the garden of his Tennyson Avenue home and his landlord had been fined by SKDC for this – so he simply disposed of it.
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