Woman fined for pile of rubbish dumped from van she sold
A woman has been ordered to pay more than £300 after a pile of rubbish was dumped near Stafford.
The waste included a suitcase, several black bags, sofa cushions and a vacuum cleaner, and was found on land between Clanford Road and Moor Lane in Seighford.
The 21-year-old explained that the rubbish had been left in a van that she had sold - with the buyer saying he would get rid of the waste for her.
The woman from Bridgnorth, who appeared at court via video link, admitted to not ensuring the waste was disposed of properly and was fined £120 and ordered to pay court costs of £185 and a victim surcharge of £34.
Cannock Magistrates Court heard on Tuesday that people have a duty to ensure their household waste is transferred to an authorised person.
In mitigation the court was told the woman was ‘naive’, having been assured the rubbish was going to be disposed of at a tip.
After the case, Councillor Jonathan Price, cabinet member for environment at the borough council, said he hoped recent prosecutions sent a warning to people who thought they could get away with environmental crimes.
He said: "We take all environmental crimes seriously and will not hesitate to issue fines or take people to court where necessary.
"But we need help from our residents and businesses to ensure we can catch and deal with the offenders - and any details of these types of crime will be treated in confidence."
"I’m grateful for those who get in touch with us to report incidents such as this.
"Fly tipping is a blight on our communities and can often lead to further anti-social offences.
"They are also expensive to clean up and can put people off coming to our wonderful borough - and that is not good for our economy."
Incidents of fly-tipping cost Stafford Borough Council taxpayers’ tens of thousands of pounds each year to clean-up.
Last month two women were fined by the court for separate fly tipping related incidents in Stafford and Stone.
