Three men have been forced to pay more than £5,500 after commercial waste was repeatedly dumped on a lane used by farmers, dog walkers, and horse riders.
A Durham County Council neighbourhood warden visited Pit House Lane in Leamside, County Durham, a known fly tipping hotspot, following the installation of CCTV cameras on the site.
Footage from the cameras showed five individual deposits of commercial waste from three separate vehicles in June and July 2025.
One vehicle had Delta Rooflines NE Ltd livery and one of the males who deposited the waste was wearing a T-shirt with the same logo. The waste was found to contain roof tiles, plastic guttering, drainpipes, pallets and sheets of hardboard.
David Adams aged 46 of Oak Terrace Road in Middlesbrough; and another man also called David Adams, aged 21, of Hebron Drive in Middlesbrough were subsequently identified from the footage. Baily Patrick George Baldwin, aged 22, of Desford Green in Middlesbrough, was identified via Companies House as the sole director of Delta Rooflines NE Ltd.
Peterlee Magistrates’ Court heard that a council officer carried out DVLA checks on the three vehicles used to carry out the fly tips, and the addresses of the culprits were later confirmed with insurance checks.
During a visit to one of the identified addresses, officers spotted the vehicle with the Delta Rooflines NE Ltd logo parked outside. A check on Companies House found the only director of the company was Baldwin.
Between September 2025 and March 2026, three letters were sent to the younger David Adams, but no response was received. Letters were also sent to Baldwin and the elder David Adams.
On 30 October 2025, the elder David Adams contacted the council and advised an officer that he had sold the Delta Rooflines NE Ltd vehicle months before the fly tip. He was asked to provide proof of sale as the vehicle was seen outside of his home address on 27 July 2025, but no documentation was ever provided.
Baldwin contacted the council and was asked to attend an interview under caution regarding the offences, with the initial interview date being re-arranged at Baldwin’s request. The court heard how Baldwin attended the subsequent interview and asked the Neighbourhood Warden: “How do I make this go away so it doesn’t go to court?”
Baldwin was told that the five offences each carried a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN). Taking responsibility for the offences, he accepted the FPNs and was given until December 2025 to make the payments.
The payments were not made, and Neighbourhood Wardens spoke to him on two further occasions when he indicated that he could not find the money to pay for the fines. He attended a further interview when the offences were put to him once more, to which he replied, “no comment.”
Both David Adams were convicted for their roles in the offences at an earlier hearing in June 2026.
During mitigation the court heard that both were sorry. Meanwhile, Baldwin told the court that he had no involvement in the fly tipping of the waste, and while he accepted, he was the director of the company, he didn’t earn any money.
All three were ordered to pay fines, a victim surcharge and costs associated with clearing up the waste. For the elder David Adams, this totalled £1,594, for the younger David Adams, the total was £1,645, and for Baldwin the total was £2,280.
Ian Hoult, Durham County Council’s neighbourhood protection manager, said: “This is a known hotspot for fly tipping, so we’re pleased that the cameras we installed in the area captured the trio and helped us take action against those responsible. Installing cameras is just one of the many measures we use to deter fly tipping.
“We take fly tipping very seriously in our county as it is a scourge on the environment and ruins the landscape for everyone else. Cases like these undercut legitimate traders and this demonstrates the severity of punishment to those caught doing it.
“Every fly tip that we clear comes at a cost to the public and taxpayer. If you’re asking someone to get rid of your waste, make sure they are a legitimate business, ask where they are taking it to, and make sure to get a receipt.
“If you’re disposing of your waste yourself, there are many ways to do it correctly, whether through booking a bulky waste collection or taking unwanted items to any of our Household Waste Recycling Centres for free. If we all act responsibly, cases like this could be easily avoided.”
