Council prosecutes fly-tipper caught on car park CCTV

Wiltshire Council has successfully prosecuted a Wiltshire resident who was caught on CCTV fly-tipping tyres in a Westbury car park. 

Mr Roger Burgess, of Warminster Road, Westbury, appeared at Salisbury Magistrates Court on Thursday 24 April and pleaded guilty to fly-tipping tyres in Warminster Road Car Park, Westbury, on 2 November 2023. He was fined a total of £500, including costs.

The council's Environmental Enforcement Team received a fly-tipping report from Warminster Town Council, which also monitors CCTV in Westbury and had captured a man fly-tipping the tyres on its cameras.

The footage showed a male arriving in the car park in a Vauxhall Astra and unloading objects from the rear of the vehicle. A second vehicle later joins, and the occupants are seen exchanging objects between the two vehicles. As the Astra leaves the car park, dumped tyres are visible at the rear of the car park space. 

Officers traced the vehicle back to Mr Burgess, with the second vehicle traced to another owner, who cannot be named. When the second owner provided evidence that the fly-tipped tyres belonged to Mr Burgess, he was interviewed under caution and gave the excuse that he had removed the tyres to unload other items and then forgot about them when he left. He was issued with a fixed penalty notice of £400 (the maximum penalty fine at the time), which was not paid and therefore resulted in conviction in court. 

At the time of the offence, the fixed penalty notice amount was set at £400, but this was raised to £1,000 in April 2024. The case had been delayed in reaching court because Mr. Burgess did not attend the first hearing in 2024, along with subsequent delays that were beyond the council's control.

Sam Howell, Director of Highways and Transport, said: "This is a great example of partnership working, and our thanks go to Warminster Town Council and their CCTV team for spotting this incident and reporting it to us. Our Environmental Enforcement officers will act on any information or evidence of environmental crime in Wiltshire. 

"As Mr Burgess did not pay his fixed penalty, we were forced to take further legal action in this case. Anyone caught fly-tipping can now be ordered to pay a £1,000 fixed penalty notice or be taken to court, where they could face an unlimited fine or imprisonment."

To find out more about how the council is tackling fly-tipping in Wiltshire and how to report fly-tipping, people should visit: fly-tipping.