Pensioner dumped his rubbish in garden

A pensioner dumped rubbish in a Wolverhampton garden only for it to spill out onto a neighbouring property, a court heard.

Stanley Long fly-tipped plastic sheets and other items in the garden of a home he owned but rented out in Nine Elms Lane, Park Village.

The 72-year-old of Paget Road, off Tettenhall Road, has been ordered to pay almost £4,000 after being found guilty by city magistrates of two offences of dumping and handling waste. He initially denied both offences.

While under cross-examination Long, who works as a roofing contractor, admitted putting the items there and later moving them.

"I put a small amount of plastic there for recycling," he said. "The rest of the rubbish wasn't mine. The council has got a policy for recycling rubbish."

He said the council had not come to collect the plastic.

When asked how the rubbish had spilled out to the neighbouring property, Long answered: "Me and a couple of labourers took it round.

"The council didn't want it, did they?"

Long told Mr Tony Watkin, prosecuting on behalf of Wolverhampton City Council, he did not regret his actions, saying: "The council want to make an issue out of it but it was an innocent piece put there."

Mr Watkin told the court Long had threatened to set fire to the rubbish if it was not removed.

Magistrates found the pensioner guilty of depositing controlled waste without an environmental permit and of handling waste between March 1, 2009, and May 31, 2009.

Long, who refused to fill in a statement of means form as required by the court, was ordered to pay £1,000 for each offence.

He will also pay £1,517.50 in legal costs and pay the £450 and a £15 Government surcharge.

Long told the court he would appeal against the decision.

Last month a market trader who was caught dumping cardboard fruit boxes at the side of a road was ordered to pay almost £2,000 by a court.

Fruit and vegetable trader Rachel Horton, aged 38, of Waterhead Drive, Wednesfield, was spotted dumping rubbish in Featherstone on three separate occasions.