A man from Knowle, Bristol has been found guilty of
fly-tipping offences in a case brought by North Somerset
Council.
Brian Warburton (aged 61 years) from Leinster Avenue in Knowle
was found guilty of two offences by North Somerset magistrates
after a two day trial.
On Saturday, 13 December 2008 a farmer was driving along Cooks
Bridle Path, Felton travelling towards Bristol International
Airport and noticed a white Ford P100 pick-up truck with a
trailer full of rubbish driving towards him. The lane is
narrow and both vehicles had to slow down to pass each other.
Some 10 minutes later, when returning along the same road, the
farmer noticed the hard top from the pick-up upside down, together
with a wheelbarrow and other rubbish in it, in a lay-by adjacent to
the road. He took a photograph of the vehicle driving away
and saw that there were three people in it.
The farmer reported the incident to the police and an officer
examined the rubbish and then went to the registered keeper's
(Brian Warburton) address but Mr Warburton was not there. A message
was left with a person at the property that the rubbish must be
removed or Mr Warburton would be reported for fly tipping.
The officer checked the area the following day and the rubbish was
still there and he then informed North Somerset Council.
An environmental protection officer from the council checked the
rubbish and among the items found an empty box of pills with a
label addressed to Mr Brian Warburton.
Mr Warburton was interviewed on tape and under caution on
January 13 2009 when he confirmed he was the owner of the pick-up
but denied being responsible for fly-tipping the rubbish. During
the interview he was shown the packet of pills which he admitted
were tablets that he took but was unable to explain how the pill
packet was in the waste found at Cooks Bridle Path. He denied
ever having put his pill packet in the trailer. He said
he would not chuck out "things like that" but would put them in a
bag and walk them to the council tip.
The interviewing officers explained to Mr Warburton that as the
registered keeper of the vehicle he was responsible for the use
made of it for the purposes of fly tipping. He denied any
knowledge about any fly tipping and denied having deposited the
waste on the land off Cooks Bridle Path. He refused to pay
for the clear up costs for the site because he said it was not his
rubbish.
Mr Warburton pleaded not guilty but was found guilty after a
trial by magistrates when the case was heard this week.
He was fined £150 for each offence (total fines £300), ordered
to pay £150 towards prosecution costs, £100 for the costs of
cleaning up the waste and £15 victim surcharge (a total of
£565).
Cllr Peter Bryant, North Somerset Council's executive member
with responsibility for environmental protection, said:
"Congratulations to our officers for investigating this offence and
bringing it to a successful conclusion. We had good support from
the police and Bristol City Council and this case sends out a
message that we will prosecute.
"Thanks too to the farmer who had the foresight to take a
picture of the offending vehicle. I would encourage our residents,
if they see fly tipping to not confront people but to take photos
or note down any vehicle registration numbers and pass the
information on to us and we will investigate and take appropriate
action.
"Fly tipping is incredibly anti-social, spoiling our environment
- there is no excuse as there are numerous legitimate methods of
disposing of rubbish, for example taking it to one of our household
waste and recycling centres at Weston-super-Mare, Backwell or
Portishead."
The wording of the two offences he was found guilty of is
1) between 1 December 2008 and 14 December being an occupier
of domestic property did fail to take all such measures available
to him as were reasonable in the circumstances to secure that any
transfer by him of household waste produced on the property was
only to an authorised person or to a person for authorised
transport purposes as required by section 34(2A) of the
Environmental Protection Act 1990
Contrary to section 34(6) of the Environmental Protection Act
1990
and 2) on 13 December 2008 did knowingly cause or permit a
person whose identity is unknown to the Prosecutor to deposit
controlled waste in or on land at Cooks Bridle Path, Felton,
Somerset
Contrary to section 33(6) of the Environmental Protection Act
1990
He was acquitted on one count which was an offence of being the
person who actually disposed of the waste.
