A man from Yate has been ordered to pay a total of £1,228 after South Gloucestershire Council prosecuted him for waste offences following the discovery of a fly-tip.
After failing to attend an earlier court hearing, Santiago Pablo, 29, of Cater Drive in Yate was arrested on warrant and brought before Bristol Magistrates Court on Wednesday 25 January. He pleaded guilty to the offence of failing in his duty of care and was ordered to pay a fine of £480, along with £500 in costs, a further and £56 in clear up costs, and a £192 victim surcharge, making a total of £1,228.
The court heard that a fly-tip on Watery Lane in Yate was reported to South Gloucestershire Council on 6 July 2022. The council cleared the fly-tip that same day and photographs of the waste together with documentation found relating to an Alveston address were forwarded to Environmental Enforcement officers for investigation.
When officers contacted the Alveston householder (subsequently found to be Pablo’s uncle), he said that he recognised the waste and identified Santiago Pablo as the person who removed it from his address.
Pablo was then spoken to under caution at his home address. He stated he had not been paid to remove the waste from the Alveston address but did it as a favour. He claimed that on his way home he had met an acquaintance of his and paid them £20 to take the waste away. Pablo confirmed that he had no receipt or waste transfer note regarding this transaction.
Councillor Rachael Hunt, cabinet member responsible for environmental enforcement at South Gloucestershire Council, said: “There’s no excuse for fly-tipping. We all have a responsibility to ensure that our waste is disposed of in a responsible and lawful manner, including when a third party is involved.
“If you hire someone else to dispose of your waste, always ask for a copy of their 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 found 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
