A BRAZEN fly-tipper caught on a secret camera has been left counting the cost after he was hauled in front of a court and fined.
Gary John Colledge thought no-one was watching as he and a friend dumped rubble and building waste at a North East beauty spot before jumping into their van and fleeing the scene.
The 25-year-old now faces fines and court costs of more than £800 after being found guilty of breaching environmental laws at Shotton Colliery Pond. Colledge’s prosecution is a rare success for the region’s local authorities.
In January, the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) revealed that while fly-tipping cost the North East £3m, representing a rise in incidents for the second year running, only 73 prosecutions were brought by councils, with fines totalling less than £15,000.
Durham County Council said it has had a particular problem with the pond area and has been forced to put up signs and use CCTV to catch potential fly-tippers.
Colledge, of Eden Lane, Peterlee, appeared at Peterlee Magistrates’ Court charged with breaching environmental laws.
He admitted leaving the waste but claimed he had permission to use it to fill potholes and had been approached by a man.
Colledge told the court the man asked if he could use the rubble, which was in the back of his van, to fill a hole on the track to the pond.
Colledge said he did not know the man’s name but thought he had authority to leave the waste. His story was confirmed by his companion.
But representative for Durham County Council, which owns the site, told the court it had not granted anyone such permission.
It was also noted that signs are in place at the entrance to the access road warning against fly-tipping and stating that CCTV cameras are in operation.
Magistrates rejected Colledge’s version of events and he was fined £165 and ordered to pay costs of £630 and a £15 victim surcharge.
Defra found that more than 53,000 incidents were recorded in Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and County Durham last year and that councils in the region spent more than £2.2m cleaning up incidents of fly-tipping, and nearly £600,000 investigating them.
In 2011/12, rubbish was dumped on footpaths, industrial estates and in rivers in the region, with the items most commonly dumped being white goods, tyres and construction waste. But there were also 104 incidents where asbestos was dumped in the region, and 86 involving animal carcasses.
In all there were 53,780 incidents of fly-tipping in the region, with Newcastle seeing the most at 19,278, followed by Sunderland at 15,772.
Of those incidents, only 73 ended up with court prosecutions, with another 497 being dealt with by fixed penalties.
He admitted leaving the waste but claimed he had permission to use it to fill potholes
