Campaign clocks £1 million against the fly tippers

Although he didn’t know it, Marcin Zbigniew Seweryn, 40, of Eastfield Road, Burnham, marked a milestone when he pleaded guilty of fly tipping in a case heard at High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court on 1 May 2019.

For when the Magistrates imposed a fine, costs and a victim surcharge totalling over £2,300, the Waste Partnership for Buckinghamshire passed the £1 million mark in the amounts fly tippers have had to pay out through prosecution for illegal dumping.

The court heard that on the afternoon of 3 November 2018 at around 2pm, a surveillance camera at Allerds Road, Burnham, captured images of carpet and underlay waste being dumped by a man from the back of a van. Officers from the Waste Partnership for Buckinghamshire traced the vehicle registration to a company in Burnham. On being contacted, the company confirmed the driver’s identity – and Mr Seweryn was asked to come for interview at Slough Police Station.

Although he initially denied any involvement, Mr Seweryn fully admitted dumping the waste once he saw the evidence of the surveillance images.

He explained that the carpet had been ruined when a fish tank had been accidentally broken at his home. He had taken the waste to the nearby household recycling centre, but was told he needed to obtain a free digital permit as he was using a commercial van.

He was reluctant to take the carpet home for fear of upsetting his wife, so in order to avoid the necessity of obtaining the free digital permit, he deposited the waste at the roadside with the claimed intention of returning with his car, picking up the waste, and taking it back to the household recycling centre. But he had then found himself too busy to do so.

The Magistrates fined Seweryn £1,507 for dumping the waste, and ordered him to pay £705.30 inclean-up, investigation and legal costs. A victim surcharge of £150 was also ordered against him – making a total to pay of £2.362.30

This sum brought the total fines and costs ordered against offenders prosecuted in fly-tipping cases in Buckinghamshire since 2004 over the £1,000,000 mark.

Mike Smith, Cabinet Member for Environment at Chiltern District Council and Chairman of the Waste Partnership for Buckinghamshire, said: “This million pound milestone marks the ongoing commitment of all of the Waste Partnership for Buckinghamshire’s member authorities to fight waste crime together through a zero-tolerance approach. We will prosecute waste crime whenever possible, whether it’s the fly tippers themselves or those that fail in their duty of care to ensure that their waste is disposedof responsibly. This case is the 707th successful prosecution since the zero-tolerance policy was brought in in 2003.”

Bill Chapple OBE, Cabinet Member for Planning & Environment at Buckinghamshire County Council, said: “I’d like to congratulate our waste enforcement team who investigate fly tipping cases on behalf of the Waste Partnership. Through their dedication and diligence we have a fly tipping prosecution rate that is 16 times better than the national average, sending a very clear warning not to dump rubbish illegally in Buckinghamshire.”