Doncaster man fined for allowing his fly-tipper son to use his van to dump waste in village near Beverley

Paul Reddish, 61, of Lister Avenue, Balby, claimed he had given his son the van to use while it was off the road and said he was probably the person driving it at the time of the fly-tipping offence, which was witnessed by an off-duty police sergeant.

The officer saw waste being dumped from the van at a layby in Tickton, near Beverley, on August 2, 2020 and took a photograph of the vehicle.

Reddish was prosecuted for allowing his son to use his van in a case brought to court by East Riding Council.

Reddish pleaded not guilty to the offence, however he was found guilty after trial of being in control of a vehicle which was used to fly-tip waste when he appeared at Beverley Magistrates Court last week.

Reddish had accepted he was the owner of the vehicle and the vehicle was insured by him.

Reddish was fined £720, ordered to pay costs of £1,000, and a victim surcharge of £72, totalling £1,792.

During investigations, an officer from the council's streetscene enforcement team found the works van was registered to Reddish at his business address at Carnaby Industrial Estate, near Bridlington.

The officer wrote to Reddish, who responded that his son was using the van on the day of the offence. However his son later failed to respond to repeated letters from the council.

An officer then contacted Reddish to make a statement, which he was initially willing to supply, however when a statement was sent to him to be signed, it was not returned.

After repeated but failed attempts to obtain a statement that Reddish was not in a position to be in control of the vehicle on the date of the offence, he was summoned to court.Under the Environmental Protection Act, when waste is carried in and deposited from a vehicle the person who controls, or is in a position to control the use of the vehicle, is treated as knowingly causing the waste to be deposited, whether or not they gave any instructions for this to be done.

As Reddish was in a position to control the use of his vehicle by letting his son drive it, he was prosecuted.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council has reminded residents that they are responsible for disposing of their own waste properly and legally by using their household bins or by taking it to their local household waste recycling site.

For larger loads they can also hire a licensed waste carrier to take the rubbish away or use the council's own bulky waste collection service.

The council's head of streetscene services Paul Tripp said: "This is a good example of, where a vehicle is used in the offence of fly-tipping, the owner of the vehicle was prosecuted for letting that happen.

"I would like to thank the off-duty police sergeant for gathering and sending us evidence, which led to this prosecution.

"All fly-tipping is unacceptable and we need the public's help to prevent it from happening."

Anyone caught fly-tipping could be ordered to pay a £400 fixed penalty notice or the case can be taken to court, where they face an unlimited fine or even imprisonment.