A man who dumped rubble at the side of a country lane in County Durham has been left more than £1,000 out of pocket.
John Paul Cliff was captured on CCTV dumping the building waste into a hedgerow and down a slope into a wooded area at Saunders Lane, near Hamsterley, on 3 September 2024.
Durham County Council neighbourhood wardens tracked down the 53-year-old, of Windmill, near Bishop Auckland, through the registration number of the vehicle used for the fly-tip.
Magistrates in Peterlee heard Cliff did not respond to an initial letter from the wardens about the incident and failed to attend an interview arranged for the end of October 2024.
A second interview date was set for the following month. Cliff attended the interview, but before it began, he told wardens he had sold the vehicle two days before the date of offence. He repeated this claim during the interview and denied it was him on the CCTV footage.
However, checks with the DVLA and the vehicle’s new registered keeper, confirmed it was sold on 20 September, almost three weeks after the offence.
Cliff pleaded guilty to depositing controlled waste without an environmental permit and was ordered to pay a total of £1,305 in court fines, costs and charges. When passing sentence, magistrates highlighted Cliff’s unwillingness to assist Durham County Council in its investigation.
Ian Hoult, neighbourhood protection manager at Durham County Council, said: “Fly-tipping is an issue our communities continue to raise with us, as it has a significant impact the local environment. There can also be serious legal and financial consequences for those caught dumping waste, as this case demonstrates.
“However, all of this can be easily avoided, simply by ensuring waste is disposed of correctly – whether that is paying a licensed provider to remove the items or taking them to any of our Household Waste Recycling Centres for free.
“We’re all responsible for our own waste and there’s never an excuse for fly-tipping. We hope this case serves as a strong warning to anyone considering dumping waste illegally that they will be held to account for their actions.”
To find out more about disposing of waste in County Durham, visit www.durham.gov.uk/recycling.
