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Crime Solicitors

Kent fly tipper given handed £1,600 penalty (26 October 2016)

Date: 26/10/2016
Duncan Lewis, Crime Solicitors, Kent fly tipper given handed £1,600 penalty

Ashford Borough Council in Kent has prosecuted a local man for fly tipping offences in Ashford and Tonbridge and Malling boroughs.

Joseph Paul Busby, 31, from Crown Acres in East Peckham pleaded guilty to four charges of fly tipping, after officers from both authorities worked together to bring about the conviction.

Busby was fined £750 – with £750 in legal costs to Ashford Borough Council –
and was also ordered to pay the council an additional £121.77 in clear up costs.

The court heard that, on Wednesday 13 May 2015, fly tipping in a large area of Surrenden Road in Ashford – adjacent to farmland – was reported to Ashford Borough Council by Biffa.

An officer visited the site and found plastic shrinkwrap, with a label displaying Superior Doors & Windows and Simon Rush.

Following information provided by a local resident and the landowner, the officer established that Superior Doors & Windows was owned by Joe Busby.

Busby agreed to come and remove the rubbish – however, this was not done and on Friday 15 May 2015, Biffa removed the waste and the council was charged for the cost of removal.

The defendant was subsequently interviewed under caution on 23 September 2015 by Ashford and Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council officers.

The defendant said he had met a man in a pub, who gave him a number of another person who would dispose of his commercial waste for cash payments. Although he told Busby he was legal, Busby did not check he had a waste carrier’s licence.

The defendant said he was not aware of waste transfer notes and did not know that he should have signed the waste over to another party.

Busby took full responsibility for the situation and stated his embarrassment that his business was associated with the fly tips.

After the hearing, Ashford Borough Council’s portfolio holder for borough presentation, Councillor Clair Bell, said:

“We are publicising this case because it highlights the importance of taking responsibility of your own waste.

“You must check that anyone disposing of your waste has a waste carrier’s licence – this can be done on the Environment Agency’s website.

“People are rightly angry about fly tipping and want our open spaces to remain attractive and clear of such waste.

“Additionally, we need to make sure that we protect the public purse by recovering our costs in instances such as this.”

Duncan Lewis Criminal Solicitors

Duncan Lewis criminal solicitors can advise companies and individuals at any stage of an environmental offence, including charges relating to polluting watercourses, fisheries offences, fly tipping, illegal waste management activities, waste carrier offences, failing to manage hazardous waste, air pollution, noise pollution, or misuse of permitted land.

There are Duncan Lewis offices across England and Wales and in most major cities – and a Duncan Lewis criminal defence solicitor can advise at the start of an investigation by the Environment Agency or local authority and before charges are brought.

For expert legal advice on all environmental offences, call Duncan Lewis criminal solicitors on 0333 772 0409.


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