Cleaner fined £1,100 for dumping rubbish
A cleaner has been ordered to pay £1,100 after dumping rubbish at a site in Stafford.
Footage viewed by Magistrates showed a woman struggling to carry heavy black bin bags of waste from the back of her car which were later dumped on land at Doxey, Stafford.
The 29-year-old from Stafford was fined £680, ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £68 and costs of £395, after pleading guilty to two charges of ‘depositing controlled waste’ and ‘allowing her vehicle to be used to deposit controlled waste.’
Paula, who runs her own part-time cleaning business, was told to pay £1,143 at £50 a month, for the offence which occurred in May 2021.
And in a separate case before the same justices this week, 37-year-old Terina Cottrell from Stone admitted a charge of not ensuring her rubbish was removed by a registered waste carrier and was fined £120 with a £34 victim surcharge.
The charge followed household items - including game controllers, shoes, underwear, and bin bags - being dumped at the canoe club in the town’s Westbridge Park around September last year.
During the investigation by Stafford Borough Council she confirmed it was her waste and apologised for the incident but stated she had no idea how it was removed from her drive - and ended up at the canoe club.
After the case, Councillor Jonathan Price, Cabinet Member for Environment at the borough council, said he hoped these prosecutions would send a warning to people who thought they could get away with illegally dumping rubbish in the area.
Last month a number of people were fined for littering in the borough and the local authority say there are more prosecutions for similar offences in the pipeline.
He continued: “I hope this demonstrates that we take all environmental crimes seriously and will not hesitate to issue fines or take people to court where necessary.
“I’m grateful for the residents who get in touch with us to report incidents such as these and provide information that helps us to take these matters to court.
"These incidents are all a blight on our communities, they can lead to further anti-social offences, they are expensive to clean up and can put people off coming to our wonderful borough - and that is not good for our economy.”
Clearing up fly tipping incidents have cost the council tens of thousands of pounds in the last 12 months.
