Council issues Fixed Penalty Notices and warns of the dangers of using rogue waste collectors

Wiltshire Council residents, and those in neighbouring authority areas such as Swindon, are being advised to carefully check the details of anyone they pay to take their waste away.

Wiltshire Council has issued three £400 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) recently to householders in Wiltshire and Swindon for failing in their duty of care to ensure their waste was passed to a licenced waste carrier.

A Swindon resident was recently issued with a £400 FPN after waste from their property was found fly-tipped in Lyneham. The householder could not provide the waste carriers licence number and other details of the person they said took their waste away.

Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, householders have a legal duty of care to ensure waste is only passed to reputable licensed upper tier waste carriers.

In addition to fines issued to householders, the council recently issued fines totalling £700 to a Swindon man for fly-tipping waste in Broad Hinton. The waste was traced back to a Swindon householder, who assisted the investigation in tracing the fly-tipper responsible. On this occasion, the householder did the right thing and gathered all information needed from the person removing the waste, which not only led to the council tracing the fly-tipper, but the householder also received a reward as part of the council's We're Targeting Fly-tippers campaign. 

Once a fixed penalty is issued, the recipients cannot be named as it does not constitute a court conviction.

Cllr Dr Mark McClelland, Cabinet Member for Highways, said: "We are committed to tracing fly-tippers and bringing them to justice, no matter which authority area they are located in or how long it takes to trace them. 

"We strongly advise householders and businesses to note down the waste carrier licence number, registration number and description of any vehicles or people moving their waste. This not only helps us trace fly-tippers, it also protects householders from potential fines.

"We have an excellent working relationship with Wiltshire Police, the Environment Agency and our neighbouring councils, and we work in partnership to crack down on environmental crime in Wiltshire.

"We have had some recent success in terms of prosecutions and fixed penalty notices, but we will keep working hard to stop people spoiling our beautiful countryside."

The council's Environmental Enforcement team has a number fly-tipping and environmental crime cases waiting to be heard in court, and it has also seized two vehicles involved in fly-tipping as part of a wider clampdown on environmental crime.

People can report fly-tipping online by visiting www.wiltshire.gov.uk/mywiltshire-online-reporting, or calling 0300 456 0100.