A man from Bradley Stoke has been ordered to pay a total of £1,894 in fines and costs after South Gloucestershire Council prosecuted him following the discovery of fly-tipped bin bags alongside a cycle path.
Constantin Parinescu, 47, of The Beeches, Bradley Stoke appeared at Bristol Magistrates Court on 19 January. He pleaded guilty to fly-tipping and was handed a £500 fine, ordered to pay costs of £1,194 and a victim surcharge of £200, making a total of £1,894.
The court heard that the council received a report of fly-tipping on the cycle/foot path network in Bradley Stoke on 26 June 2025. A nearby resident had caught the offence on CCTV and had observed a man dispose of a ‘heavy’ looking bin bag.
The council’s environmental enforcement team attended the location and found two black bags deposited in the hedge line running alongside the cycle path and a resident’s garden wall. The bags contained a mix of what appeared to be household waste and cat litter.
Officers spoke with the resident that submitted the report, who told them that he had CCTV footage of the offence and had also found gloves used by the offender in his front garden. The CCTV footage showed a lone male carrying a single black bag, who carries the bag toward the cycle track before discarding it in the hedges that run alongside the property boundary. He is then seen walking back past the property toward The Beeches, before returning a short time later with another heavy black bag that he discards in the same way. He then left in the same direction as before towards The Beeches.
House-to-house enquiries in the area revealed that the individual might be residing at an address in The Beeches, Bradley Stoke. An officer called at an address that was provided and was met by a woman who confirmed that the man in the CCTV footage was her father.
A requirement to attend a voluntary interview on 22 September 2025 at the council’s Yate offices was delivered to Parinescu’s address. He attended the interview and admitted the offence of fly-tipping two bags of cat litter and food waste in black sacks, and that he had thrown them into the hedge line beside a house. He was reported for summons for the offence.
Councillor Sean Rhodes, cabinet member responsible for environmental enforcement at South Gloucestershire Council, said: “Fly-tipping is not only unsightly, it can also damage the environment and attract other anti-social activities.
“There is never an excuse to dump waste in the countryside or at the roadside. There are a number of legitimate options for waste removal and in this instance the black bags could have easily been deposited at one of the area’s Sort It recycling centres.
“Prosecutions like these protect our environment and create cleaner and safer places for our communities. These are key priorities of the Liberal Democrat/ Labour partnership.”
Residents and businesses are advised to only give their rubbish to an Environment Agency registered waste carrier.
You can carry out these simple steps to make sure your waste is disposed of legally:
- Ask for a copy of the company’s waste carrier registration certificate and ask where the waste is being taken. Legitimate firms will be happy to provide this information.
- Do not be tempted to use people offering cheap waste clearance on sites such as Facebook and Gumtree unless you have confirmed that they are registered with the Environment Agency
- Check whether the waste carrier is registered by calling the Environment Agency on 08708 506506 or by checking on their website https://environment.data.gov.uk/public-register/view/search-waste-carriers-brokers
- Ask for a registered trading address and contact telephone number for the trader and get a receipt.
Household waste can be taken to the council’s Sort It recycling centres where it can be disposed of at no cost www.southglos.gov.uk/sortitcentres
Residents who see illegal fly-tipping are encouraged to report it by contacting the council’s StreetCare helpdesk on 01454 868000, emailing streetcare@southglos.gov.uk or visiting www.southglos.gov.uk/flytipping
