Swindon residents fined after waste is fly-tipped in Wiltshire countryside

Two Swindon householders have been issued with fixed penalty notices (FPNs) after their waste was found fly-tipped in the Wiltshire Council area in recent weeks.  

Wiltshire Council's Environmental Enforcement Officers received separate reports of fly-tipped waste found in Winterbourne Monkton and Mildenhall.

The waste was traced back to the two different householders in Swindon, who were both interviewed under caution. When interviewed, both householders explained they paid or gave their waste away to other people to dispose of, but they did not check if the person they passed their waste to was correctly licensed by the Environment Agency. Neither of the householders could provide any information that could have traced the waste removers, such as descriptions, vehicle details or a written receipt. If they had, the council could have traced the people responsible for fly-tipping the waste.

Cllr Dr Mark McClelland, Cabinet Member for Transport and Waste, said: We spend more than £100,000 each year cleaning up fly-tipping, which is money we could be spending on helping vulnerable people in Wiltshire.

Anyone that has waste removed should protect themselves by checking that the waste disposal services they use are legitimate and licensed by the Environment Agency. They should also ensure they record as much detail as possible about the people removing the waste.

We would also appeal to people who witness an incident to collect as much information as possible. Where a vehicle is used, a description and any registration details are particularly useful in helping us to identify those responsible.

As these two fixed penalty notices show, we take fly-tipping very seriously and will do all we can to track down the perpetrators. Fly-tipping is a blight on our beautiful county, and we'll continue to take action against fly-tippers in Wiltshire.

Wiltshire Council introduced FPNs for fly-tipping to avoid the need for expensive, time-consuming prosecutions and provide a more efficient and proportionate response to the issue. The FPN is set at £400 but reduced to £200 if paid within 10 days. Once an FPN is issued, the recipients cannot be named as it is not a conviction in court.

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