Another fly-tipper has been caught by Durham County Council, fined and left with a criminal record.
Adam Silliker, from Tow Law, was captured on CCTV dumping a large amount of waste from his Volkswagen van in the Roddymoor Road area of Mile Lonnen in Crook on November 5th 2016.
After watching the CCTV footage and seeing a driver and passenger getting out of the van to dump the waste at the side of the road, a Durham County Council neighbourhood warden made enquiries and discovered that Silliker was the van’s owner.
Neighbourhood wardens are officials with the power to issue fines for offences such as fly-tipping, dog fouling and low-level anti-social behaviour.
Silliker was asked to attend an interview, in which he admitted dumping the waste while claiming he wasn’t responsible for all the rubbish found at the site.
At Newton Aycliffe Magistrates Court on Wednesday, Silliker pleaded guilty and was fined £1,330 – reduced from £2,000 because of his early guilty plea.
Silliker was also told to pay legal costs of £130, investigation costs of £186.51 and a victim surcharge of £130.
The prosecution was part of Durham County Council’s Operation Stop It campaign, which cracks down on fly-tipping.
Durham County Council’s neighbourhood protection manager, Ian Holt, said, “The vast majority of people do the right thing and get rid of their waste legally.”
“However, a small number of people continue to fly-tip, and although Silliker admitted his guilt, that does not distract from the fact his actions were highly irresponsible.”
“We hope that the penalty imposed on him will deter anyone else from blighting our landscape and shows we are serious when we say people will not get away with fly-tipping.”
In another recent case, a County Durham man was fined around £570 for fly-tipping.
The council is also encouraging people to take responsibility for their own rubbish as part of Keep Britain Tidy’s #CrimeNotToCare campaign, reminding people that they are still accountable under the law if their waste is fly-tipped by somebody else.
To find out about the various ways in which waste in County Durham can be disposed of, please go to www.durham.gov.org/recycling.
(Main image by Julie H Brown)
