Justice finally catches up with householder who failed in his duty of care
Justice finally caught up with Gazmead Nimani, 38, of Cruik Avenue, South Ockendon, Essex, when he pleaded guilty at High Wycombe Magistrates Court on 19 July of failing in his duty of care as a householder.
The court heard that a member of the public found a pile of waste dumped illegally just off the A40 at Beaconsfield on 7 December 2014, and reported it to the Buckinghamshire County Council enforcement team. Evidence within the waste led officers to interview Mr Nimani at Uxbridge Police Station.
After the initial investigation,Mr Nimani had moved home, meaning the summons for hisoriginal court hearing never reached him. This led to a warrant being issued for his arrest, at which stage he was traced to his new address.
At the hearing in July, the court was told that Mr Nimani employed the services of a man in a white van to remove and dispose of waste for him from an address he owns in Northolt, London. He couldn’t provide any details of the person involved and didn’t check if the man was authorised to carry the waste, and was therefore held to have failed in his duty of care.
Magistrates fined Mr Nimani £1,115, ordered him to pay prosecution costs of £1,040 and levied a victim surcharge of £111 – making a total to pay of £2,366.
South Bucks District Council Cabinet Member for Environment Luisa Sullivan, speaking on behalf of the Waste Partnership for Buckinghamshire, said: “Moving away may have slowed down the process, but justice was nevertheless served on this householder who failed to ensure that the ‘man with a van’ he paid to dispose of his waste was genuine”.
The case was investigated and prosecuted by Buckinghamshire County Council working on behalf of the Waste Partnership for Buckinghamshire. The Waste Partnership launched the ‘IllegalDumping Costs’ campaign in November 2003 to combat illegal dumping and waste management offences in Buckinghamshire. Since that date the Partnership has secured over 600 convictions against individuals and companies for illegal dumping and related offences. This has resulted in a significant saving to the Buckinghamshire taxpayer over the period, principally through reduced removal and disposal costs.
If you see any dumped waste please report it as soon as possible online athttp://old.buckscc.gov.uk/fly