By james art A County Durham man has been fined after being caught fly-tipping three times in just 89 minutes.
Peterlee Magistrates heard that a council neighborhood warden discovered a fly tip in a rural setting in Bank Foot in July this year.
CCTV footage was then checked which showed the vehicle entering the site three times between 11.10am and 12.39pm the same day.
Jonathan McKenzie, 37, from Willington, now faces a criminal sentence and a £2,600 fine following his actions.
Each time, Jonathan can be seen on CCTV opening the back door of his vehicle and putting away the piles of dirt.
Video surveillance of Jonathan McKenzie and his vehicle (Image: Durham County Council) The car was later found at his address and seized until the end of the court hearing.
In court, McKenzie pleaded guilty to three counts of dumping controlled waste without a licence.
In a second case, Newton Aycliffe magistrates heard that a neighborhood warden found litter in the back yard of a residential property on Tees Street in Horden in December last year.
The waste included a mattress, pillows and garbage bags.
Kimberly Jane Ellis’s residential property where she bent over and failed to dispose of the trash properly (Image: Durham County Council) Kimberly Jane Ellis was found to be the perpetrator after evidence was found in the waste linking him to her.
They wrote to Ellis and she didn’t respond, so they sent her a legal notice requiring her to attend an interview.
The court heard that in the meantime another deposit of waste was discovered at the same address on Tees Street.
Ellis was unable to attend the interview or contact the council but was given a further opportunity to go in and speak to wardens. She was again unable to attend or contact.
In court, Ellis pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to ensure her waste was transferred by an authorized person; and failure to appear for an interview.
In mitigation, magistrates were told she was moving and had paid someone £100 to move her waste, but they did not check they had a license and did not know if her rubbish had been properly disposed of. The court heard that Ellis did not attend an interview as she was in hospital and then it slipped her mind.
Ellis was fined a total of £651.20 for her offences.
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Ian Holt, Durham County Council’s Neighborhood Safeguarding Manager, said: “There are all sorts of ways to get rid of waste legally, including our household waste recycling centres.
“We know that the majority of our residents and businesses do dispose of their waste responsibly and we are grateful to them for that.
“Littering, as Mr McKenzie has done, is never the answer as it is both unsightly and bad for the environment.
“It’s also important that people who get someone else to dispose of waste on their behalf make sure it goes to the right place.
“Ms Ellis arranged for someone to get rid of two batches of waste but failed to ensure they were disposed of properly, resulting in them being dumped on a residential property.
“The two defendants are now left with criminal convictions and significant financial penalties as a result of their actions.
“We hope that what happened to them will serve as a lesson to them and others in the future and show that we will continue to take action against anyone who commits environmental offences.”