Toggle menu

Wiltshire Council continues fly-tipping crackdown as Swindon residents hit with fines

A Swindon resident has been issued with a £400 fixed penalty notice (FPN) for fly-tipping household waste in the Wiltshire Council authority area

Published 11 May 2023

A Swindon resident has been issued with a £400 fixed penalty notice (FPN) for fly-tipping household waste in the Wiltshire Council authority area. The waste was deposited in a layby north of Cricklade.

The person responsible was interviewed under caution by Wiltshire Council's Environmental Enforcement Officers and admitted to the offence.

The council has also issued a household duty of care FPN to another Swindon householder for failing to check the licence details of a person they paid to take waste away. They also did not obtain a receipt (commonly known as a waste transfer note) or record any details of the vehicle used by the fly-tipper, and they had no description of the persons removing the waste. The waste was subsequently found fly-tipped on a byway in Aldbourne. An unlicensed waste carrier was also fined £300 (reduced to £180 if paid within 10 days) as part of the investigation into the waste found in Aldbourne.

The two people who received the fines cannot be named because an FPN is not a conviction in an open court.

Cllr Caroline Thomas, Cabinet Member for Transport and Street Scene, said: "Fly tipping is a criminal offence, and we are taking a zero-tolerance approach to it by either issuing a fixed penalty notices or prosecuting anyone who commits environmental offences in Wiltshire.

"The person who fly-tipped in Cricklade could have easily taken their waste to the local household recycling centre or used their own household waste bins, which are collected fortnightly. This was an act of stupidity and there is no excuse. 

"Householders also have a duty of care to prevent their waste being handed to unlicensed waste collectors and face £400 fines if their waste is found dumped, as was the case in the second FPN we issued.

"As we have set out in our Business Plan, we will take action against fly-tippers and we will prosecute. Our message is clear - We're Targeting Fly-tippers, and our dedicated Enforcement Officers will take action against the perpetrators of environmental crimes."

People can report waste collectors that they suspect of being unlicensed online. If the information they report leads to the successful prosecution of an offender or the payment of an FPN, they could earn a reward of up to £200 in high street vouchers. To find out more and report offenders, people can go to our fly-tipping page

Explore the topic
Topics:

Share this page

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share by email