Swindon residents fined after waste fly-tipped in Wiltshire

Wiltshire Council’s Environmental Enforcement Officers received separate reports of fly-tipped waste found and tracked the rubbish back to two different households in Swindon. 

When interviewed under caution, both householders explained they paid or gave their waste away to other people to dispose of, but they did not check if the person they passed their waste to was correctly licensed by the Environment Agency. 

Neither could give information that would trace the people responsible for fly-tipping the waste.

They were issued with fixed penalty notices (FNPs) which are fines of £400 but can be reduced to £200 if paid within 10 days. 

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Once an FPN is issued, the recipients cannot be named as it is not a conviction in court.

Cabinet member for transport and waste, Dr Mark McClelland said: “We spend more than £100,000 each year cleaning up fly-tipping, which is money we could be spending on helping vulnerable people in Wiltshire.

“Anyone that has waste removed should protect themselves by checking that the waste disposal services they use are legitimate and licensed by the Environment Agency. They should also ensure they record as much detail as possible about the people removing the waste.

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“We would also appeal to people who witness an incident to collect as much information as possible. Where a vehicle is used, a description and any registration details are particularly useful in helping us to identify those responsible.

“As these two fixed penalty notices show, we take fly-tipping very seriously and will do all we can to track down the perpetrators. Fly-tipping is a blight on our beautiful county, and we’ll continue to take action against fly-tippers in Wiltshire.”

People can report fly-tipping by clicking here or by calling 0300 456 0100.