Man fined after ‘eyesore’ waste dumped

Ashley Whitlock, aged 25, of St Aldate Street, failed to attend a hearing at Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court on 1 July so the case was heard in his absence.

He was charged with failing to comply with a householder’s duty under the Environmental Protection Act. Whitlock was fined £1,760 and ordered to pay £300 costs and a victim surcharge of £170.

The offence took place on or around 20 September 2018 when an incident of fly tipping at Vauxhall Road was reported to Gloucester City Council.

A council officer attended and found a significant amount of household waste had been deposited by a toilet block at the entrance to a private car park.

The officer went through the waste and found correspondence belonging to Whitlock in it. He was offered a fixed penalty instead of being prosecuted, but denied the offence and instead blamed the deposit on rough sleepers who he claimed had been through his bins.

He was prosecuted under the Environmental Protection Act, which states an occupier of a domestic property has a duty to take all reasonable measures to ensure household waste produced is transferred to an authorised person.

The court was told the deposit of waste was an ‘eyesore’ that could have attracted unwanted pests such as rats to the area and that Whitlock had shown a ‘disregard for the environment’.

Cllr Richard Cook, cabinet member for environment at Gloucester City Council, said: “This hefty fine sends out a clear message that we will not tolerate people disposing of their household waste in this manner. Gloucester City Council spends more than £1million a year cleaning up litter and and fly tipping from its streets and we are determined to stamp it out.

“Fly tippers should think twice about their actions as they will be prosecuted and severely punished by the courts if found guilty.”

• Ashley Whitlock’s details were found among the waste shown in the picture attached. Not all of the waste seen in this picture was proven to have belonged to him.