Community Order for man seen fly tipping
John Francis O’Callaghan, 71, of Coxhill Way, Aylesbury, pleaded guilty at Milton Keynes Magistrates Court on 27 September 2016 to an offence of depositing waste illegally near Wendover.
The court heard that on 5 February 2016 a member of the public saw waste conifer branches being fly-tipped from a fork-lift machine on Hale Lane, Wendover. When he approached the man in the fork-lift, the member of the public recognised him as John Francis O’Callaghan. O’Callaghan was given the opportunity to remove and deal with the waste properly but did not do so.
When interviewed, O’Callaghanadmitted responsibility for the dumping. He said it had come from a building site he was working at nearby. He could not explain why the waste had been dumped, nor why he had failed to correct the problem.
The Magistrates ordered O’Callaghanto carry out 160 hours of unpaid work in the community within 12 months, and ordered clean-up and prosecution costs to be paid in the sum of £1,000. A victim surcharge of £60 was also levied.
Cllr Mike Smith, Chairman of the Joint Waste Partnership for Buckinghamshire, said: “This man has to carry out unpaid work in the community and pay clean up and investigation costs. His punishment means that there will be a local benefit from the work done. Council tax-payers will not foot the bill for cleaning up the dumping, nor for investigating and prosecuting the case at court.
“When the court levies a fine, the moneygoes to the Exchequer, but a Community Service Order such asthis results in a direct benefit to the community.”
The case was prosecuted by Buckinghamshire County Council working on behalf of the Waste Partnership for Buckinghamshire. The Waste Partnership launched the “Illegal Dumping Costs” campaign in November 2003 to combat illegal dumping and waste management offences in Buckinghamshire. Since that date the Partnership has secured 549 convictions against individuals and companies for illegal dumping and related offences. On average since April 2010, there has been at least one conviction per week for illegal dumping offences in Buckinghamshire. This has resulted in a halving of reported incidents and a significant saving to the Buckinghamshire tax payer over the period, principally through reducing removal and disposal costs.
We’ve made reporting fly-tipping easy: upload details including location and photos online or on your mobile atwww.buckscc.gov.uk/fly