Woman fined for dumping rubbish in an alleyway

A woman has been ordered to pay £256 after a bag of her household rubbish was found dumped in an alleyway.

Tameside Magistrates’ Court heard on 20 November 2023 that a Tameside Council enforcement officer was investigating a complaint of fly tipping in a hot spot area – the alleyway between Kings Road and Kenworthy Avenue, Ashton – on 19 April 2023 when they found discarded bags of waste.

They managed to trace the waste to Kayleigh Hill of Kenworthy Avenue, Ashton.

Ms Hill was served a Fixed Penalty Notice for the offence, which was not paid and all correspondence including reminder letters were ignored.

Ms Hill pleaded guilty at court to the offence of failing to comply with household waste duty of care (s34(2A) Environmental Protection Act 1990).

In mitigation, she stated that she had paid someone to collect her waste but he disappeared half way through the job so she contacted someone else who cleared the waste and must have dropped the bag. 

The magistrates ordered her to pay £256, including costs.

The council also had two other waste enforcement cases up in court however the defendants did not attend so warrants for their arrests were issued.

Tameside Council Assistant Executive Member responsible for enforcement Cllr Vincent Ricci said: “There is never any excuse for dumping waste and flytipping. It is totally unacceptable and disrespectful to the local community and environment.

“Householders have a duty of care to ensure their waste is disposed of legally and responsibly. If you are paying someone to remove waste on your behalf you should always check they have the appropriate trade waste licence.

“We have officers out every day clearing and investigating flytipping as part of our wider Our Streets campaign and we will always take enforcement action where we find evidence.”

To report fly-tipping in Tameside see www.tameside.gov.uk/flytipping. There more information on the Our Streets campaign here www.tameside.gov.uk/ourstreets