Published: Monday, 29th July 2024
Vigilance of a local resident in Barton Bendish and of a west Norfolk CCTV operator in King’s Lynn has led to two visitors to west Norfolk being dealt with for fly-tipping.
A young man from west London thought it would be ok to use his employers van to undertake some business of his own of clearing and then dumping waste. A local resident saw this man unloading the waste he had collected and challenged him. Dissatisfied with the excuse given and then that waste was left as the young man drove off the resident took details of the van and called the council. An Enforcement Officer used those details to track down the company that owned the van who identified their employee as being the person responsible. He was interviewed under caution and admitted the details of the fly tipping offence. He was issued with a fixed penalty notice for the offence which he promptly paid, reducing the charge to £200.
The diligence of a council CCTV operator has helped bring a Cambridge man to book for fly tipping at the charity bring banks at the Community Centre in Valentine Road Hunstanton. The charity banks are there to allow residents to donate usable clothes and shoes to help the important work they do in the UK and overseas. The dumping of household waste and bric-a-brac next to the bin led to an investigation. The investigation with images of the occupants of the car, its registration and the bags of waste being taken from the boot and placed on the ground next to the charity banks led to a local resident answering some questions which identified that a member of her family had taken the waste from her home.
The Enforcement Officer interviewed the person involved and they confirmed that they knew that there was a Household Waste Recycling Centre at Heacham 1.6 miles away, they would drive past it on their way home, but thought that they may have to pay £5 to use the site, so they dumped the waste ‘as it may be useful’. Properly using the Household Waste Recycling Centre is free and the man from Cambridge has had to pay a Fixed Penalty Notice for £200.
In both of these cases the prompt payment of the Fixed Penalty Notice reduced the charge from £400 to £200. The councils Enforcement Officers cleared the waste and disposed of it safely as part of their investigation.
Cllr Sandra Squire Portfolio Holder for Environment and Coastal said:
“It does not matter whether you are local to west Norfolk or from London or Cambridge we are determined to tackle those who damage the local environment by fly tipping their waste. There can be simply no excuse for tipping waste either next to charity bring banks or on the side of the road next to a farmers field in our lovely countryside. I am really grateful to the west Norfolk resident who did the right thing of challenging wrong doing and providing us with details of the van. The work of our CCTV operator shows how much they care about protecting west Norfolk from all sorts of harm.
“The tenacious work by our Enforcement Officers in clearing the fly tipping and investigating cases, even if they take us out of the county, shows how seriously we take our duty to protect west Norfolk.”
Residents of west Norfolk have the ability to dispose of household waste at HRWC’s provided by Norfolk County Council for free.
Barry Brandford, Waste and Recycling Officer said:
“We would encourage any resident to let us know about fly tipping incidents that they see happening. This can be done online via our Fly-tipping (illegal dumping) page or by calling us during office hours on 01553 616200. We will always look to investigate fly tipping on public land. Where a vehicle is used to fly tip colour make and registration is really important to help us trace it to the owner. CCTV, smart door bell and phone camera images are also used to identify those involved in fly tipping. If you see fly tipping and can help us track them down please do get in touch.”
Watch the video below to see how you can report fly-tipping through our website: