Darlington man fined for fly tipping offences

A Darlington man has been ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £709 for two separate fly tipping incidents in the town.

Alfie Chico Hunter, 20, of Frosterley Drive, who traded as Propertyshield, pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to prevent fly tipping and two of transporting waste without a licence when he appeared at Peterlee Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday (23 October).

He was fined £120 and ordered to pay costs of £541 and a victim Surcharge of £48.

The court heard that on 11 July this year, civic enforcement officers from the council attended a fly tip on Snipe Lane where they found building and packaging waste. It was traced back to an address, where the householder provided evidence that they had paid Hunter, company director for Propertyshield, £450 for removal of the waste from improvements on the property.

A few weeks later, on 5 August, a civic enforcement officer was called out to investigate a fly tip in the Brunton Street area of the town, where broken furniture and packaging was found. This was linked to the same address as the previous incident and the householder confirmed it had also been removed by Propertyshield.

Hunter was interviewed under caution and initially denied any knowledge or involvement, claiming Propertyshield did not offer waste removal services. He then said he believed an employee had done the work, after being shown a post from his personal Facebook page sharing a Propertyshield post captioned ‘Just finished a massive cleanup, took on a rubbish removal’.

When shown evidence of payment to a bank account in the name of ‘Alfie Hunter’ for ‘garden clearance’, he initially gave no comment, then said he could not remember the sort code or account number.

Hunter was charged with two breaches of Section 1(1) of the Control of Pollution Amendment Act 1989 and two breaches of Section 34(1) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. He pleaded guilty to the charges when he appeared in court and his solicitor stated that while Hunter did not personally deposit the waste, he accepted full responsibility as the company director.

Councillor Amanda Riley, the council's cabinet member for stronger communities, said: “This case is another reminder that we will take action against those who flout the law.

“We would also remind householders that if you pay or ask someone, other than the council, to take your waste away, you should always check they have a waste carrier licence and ask for a waste transfer note. If your waste is fly tipped, you could be fined along with the individual or company you used to remove it.

“Our staff work hard to keep our streets and back lanes clean and fly tipping of any kind will not be tolerated.”

The Environment Agency issues waste carrier licences. You can check if a company has a licence using the online register at https://bit.ly/CheckENV

Information on the correct means of disposing of all types of waste can be found on the council’s website www.darlington.gov.uk. 

Most household items can be disposed of for free at the tip – for more details visit www.darlington.gov.uk/tip. If you can’t get to the tip you can book a Bulky Waste Collection – for more details visit www.darlington.gov.uk/bulkywaste.

You can report a fly tip, or anyone you see fly tipping, online at www.darlington.gov.uk/reportit.