Yorkshire man whose flytipped rubbish contained letters addressed to him and was dumped near his home is fined

This was the claim made during a court hearing at Bradford and Keighley Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

Richard Paul Smith had been charged in relation to a pile of household waste that was dumped in a street in November 2020.

Smith, 43, of Clay Street, Pellon,Halifax, admitted a charge of breaching the environmental protection act by transferring controlled waste without taking reasonable measures.

Kaye Stephen, prosecuting on behalf of Calderdale Council, said flytipping was found a short distance from Smith’s home. When the bin liners of waste were searched, letters addressed to Smith were found inside.

Smith said he had paid £30 to someone to dispose of his household waste. He had not checked the waste collector’s credentials, and rather than disposing of the waste correctly they just pocketed the cash and dumped the waste yards from Smith’s home.

Ms Stephen said although Smith had not dumped the waste himself, his negligence in failing to make sure the person disposing of the waste was genuine had directly led to the flytipping.

She told the court: “Households turning a blind eye are the root cause of bogus waste collectors. It is not difficult to ask for identification from a waste collector.”

Magistrates were told that it has cost the taxpayer £200 to clean up the waste.

Smith told magistrates a “friend of a friend” had told him that someone was going around his estate collecting waste. He added: “It is my fault for not asking.

“The first I knew about it was when I got a letter.”

He did not know the identity of the bogus waste collector.

He was ordered to pay £200 costs for the clean up, a £120 fine and a surcharge of £34.