Builder fined £2,000 for Buckfastleigh fly tipping

A DEVON trader has been fined £2,000 for fly tipping building waste near Buckfastleigh.

Stephen Anthony Cattle, trading as Hire Man and Van of North Down Gardens, Plymouth, pleaded guilty to two offences relating to the disposing of waste arising from his business as a waste carrier when he recently appeared before Torbay Magistrates court.

In January 2012, Plymouth Community Homes were alerted to the fact that the 36-year-old was storing waste in the front and back gardens of his home address, effectively treating the address as a waste transfer station.

The builder was in the process of clearing the gardens when, on the February 8, 2012 a van load of mixed building waste was found fly tipped on an isolated country lane at Deancombe, Buckfastleigh.

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An enforcement officer from South Hams District Council traced the waste to an address in Plymouth. Enquiries confirmed Mr Cattle had collected the waste from there on the same day it was fly tipped.

When interviewed, Mr Cattle admitted taking the waste back to his house and said it had then been collected by a third party.

At court he pleaded guilty to four Duty of Care offences under S34 of the Environmental Protection Act, failing to prevent someone else from fly tipping the waste, allowing the waste to escape from his control, failing to ensure the waste was transferred to an authorised person and failing to complete waste transfer notes.

He was fined £400 for each offence, reduced to £267.50 per offence in lieu of his guilty pleas, and ordered to pay the council's costs of £864 and a victim surcharge of £15, a total of £1,949.

Speaking after the hearing, Cllr Rufus Gilbert, South Hams District Council's executive member for the environment, said: "Once again we have the scenario of a trader passing waste on to others with no regard whatsoever as to where that waste ends up.

"The vast majority of waste carriers do operate legally. However there are those traders who are prepared to operate outside of the regulations and dispose of their waste unlawfully.

"This Council has no hesitation in prosecuting these offenders who are prepared to put financial gain before the environment."

Anyone with information about suspected unlawful waste activities impacting on the South Hams can contact the Council's Enforcement Team in confidence on a 24hr hotline on 01803 861262, or the Council's customer services team on 01803 861234 or e-mail customer.services@southhams.gov.uk