A man from Easton in Bristol has been ordered to pay a total of £564 after South Gloucestershire Council prosecuted him for waste offences following a fly-tip in Hanham, South Gloucestershire.
Dana Ali, 31, of Vining Walk in Easton, Bristol pleaded guilty to the offence of failing in his duty of care when he appeared at Bristol Magistrates Court on Monday 12 December. He was ordered to pay a fine of £230, along with £300 in costs and a £34 victim surcharge, making a total of £564.
The court heard that on Tuesday 8 March 2022, a fly tip was discovered at Conham Hill in Hanham, South Gloucestershire, a local nature reserve and known hotspot for fly-tipping. It consisted of two piles of cardboard and other packaging materials positioned close to each other in a wooded area a short distance from the road.
South Gloucestershire Council’s Environmental Enforcement officers inspected the waste and found labels and receipts relating to ‘Bargainz’ shop on Church Road in Redfield, Bristol. Following further investigations, the shop’s owner Dana Ali was visited at his premises and interviewed under caution.
Ali identified the waste in the fly-tip as coming from his shop, stating that the packaging was from where they had recently stacked the shelves to open the shop. He claimed that an unknown man approached him and offered to remove the waste and packaging for £70. Ali agreed and said he assumed the man would get rid of the waste properly. He said he did not ask for or have any details of the man who removed his waste.
Councillor Rachael Hunt, cabinet member responsible for environmental enforcement at South Gloucestershire Council, said: “This case saw a large amount of commercial packaging waste fly-tipped near a public footpath in a local nature reserve, without any consideration of the impact it would have on the environment.
“We all have a responsibility to dispose of our waste in a responsible and lawful manner. If you hire a third party to dispose of your waste, always ask for a copy of the company’s waste carrier registration certificate and ask where the waste is being taken. Failing to carry out these simple checks could mean you are found liable and face prosecution if the waste is illegally deposited.
“Our zero-tolerance approach means that anyone who fly-tips in South Gloucestershire is five times more likely to be prosecuted than anywhere else in the country. Our award-winning environmental enforcement team has a 100 per cent record of securing successful prosecutions for this type of offence and if you fail in your duty of care and allow rubbish to be fly-tipped here, you can expect to be caught and brought before the courts.”
Unwanted goods and household or garden waste can all be disposed of at no cost via the council’s Sort It recycling centres 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
