Fly-tipper's £3k bill for field dump

A man who was seen dumping a pile of car seats in a farmer's field in a picturesque South Staffordshire village has been ordered to pay more than £3,000.

Gareth Webber, aged 28, of Bilbrook Road, Bilbrook, dumped the seats in Pattingham in July this year, Stafford Magistrates were told. He admitted dumping the seats to avoid having to pay to have them disposed of properly. Venice Archer-Dyer, prosecuting, said that on July 31 a witness saw rubbish being dumped from a van in Burnhill Green Road.

After noting the registration of the vehicle, the witness contacted police, who traced the vehicle to a man in Bilbrook.

The owner of the van told South Staffordshire Council officers that he had loaned his van to Webber. Interviewed by the council's environmental enforcement team, Webber admitted dumping the rubbish for financial gain.

He pleaded guilty to fly-tipping, in breach of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. He was fined £2,400 and ordered to pay the council's costs of £599 and £15 victim surcharge.

Councillor Joan Williams, deputy leader of environmental services at the council, said: "There is no excuse for just dumping rubbish because it is local people that always have to pay the price to clean it up.

"Mr Webber thought he'd be able to save a few pounds by dumping his rubbish in a field, but of course he has ended up having to pay an awful lot more."

More than 530 reports of fly tipping have been logged in South Staffordshire so far this year.

The council's first fly-tipping case was in March last year. A Kidderminster man was fined £1,700 after cardboard was dumped in Gilbert Lane, Kinver.