A fly tipper caught dumping 10 tons of waste, including carpet, sofas and bathroom furniture outside garages in Waddon has been told to pay nearly £2,000 in costs and compensation.
The man with a van: Louis Robinson was caught fly tipping on CCTV
Louis Robinson was fly tipping on Thorneloe Gardens, the piles of rubbish costing more than £1,500 to clear up, and it was these costs that he was ordered to pay when he was sentenced at Croydon Magistrates Court yesterday.
Robinson, of Headley Drive, New Addington, was convicted of depositing waste on public land contrary to the Environmental Protection Act 1990, after he was caught tipping rubbish out of the back of a van on a council CCTV camera.
He was sentenced to a 12-month community order with 240 hours – more than six weeks’ worth – of unpaid work and told to pay compensation of £1,518, costs of £300 and a £85 victim surcharge.
He was also made subject to a two-year criminal behaviour order.
The 29-year old was seen by residents fly tipping waste on several occasions and was reported to the council, who installed CCTV. Robinson and another, unidentified man were caught arriving later the same day in a white Ford Transit and dumping a large quantity of waste. The number plate of the vehicle was clearly captured.
While on patrol a few days later, council staff saw the same van parked on the side of the road, with Robinson loading garden waste, including fence posts, into the back. With the assistance of the local police, the vehicle was seized and later destroyed.
Another man with a van: Croydon councillor Stuart Collins praised council staff for doing their jobs
Robinson initially claimed – that is, he lied – that he was helping a friend to transport the household items into the garage area. Only later did he admit that the waste had been collected from a number of local residential addresses – the old “man with a van” scam, charging people to dispose of their bulky items, and then dumping it all in someone else’s neighbourhood.
Croydon Council issued a press release yesterday to acclaim the positive outcome of the case – though Robinson’s accomplice does not appear to have been caught or charged.
In the council’s statement, they quoted Stuart Collins, the cabinet member for fly tips, dirty streets and uncollected bins as saying, “I’m grateful for all the hard work officers and residents put in to help catch Robinson and will be writing to those responsible for administering the 240 hours unpaid work to suggest it is carried out clearing fly tips.
“Fly tipping is a serious crime and blights our communities. We will always do everything we can to bring offenders to justice,” Collins said.
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Well done those residents for having the guts to report this, the council for catching this fly-tipper and the court for applying a serious penalty.
These illegal rubbish dumpers are undercutting legitimate rubbish removal firms, as well as trashing our environment.
I hope that the council still has the fly-tip hotline, as I have used it to report a suspiciously rubbish-filled parked lorry some months ago, and the council (and Cllr. Stuart Collins) took very prompt action to investigate the lorry and the owners.
Keep up the good work !