Hereford landscaper fined for fly tipping

A landscape gardener from Hereford has been fined for illegally disposing of waste during an eight month period in 2022, in a case heard at Hereford Magistrates’ Court by Herefordshire Council’s Community Protection Team.

Mr Shaun Smith (52), of Putson Avenue, Hereford, appeared at Hereford Magistrates’ court on 20 February 2024, where he was fined £733, and ordered to pay £1500 in costs and £293 victim surcharge after pleading guilty to three charges of fly tipping and failing to secure the transfer of waste to an authorised person in relation to waste produced from his landscaping business.

The court heard that in the late hours of 12 November 2022, a Police officer discovered a large unattended fire burning and giving off black smoke in the field that sits directly behind the Grafton Travelodge hotel in Hereford. Concerned that nearby properties could catch fire, the officer woke up the nearby residents and called the fire brigade who attended and put the fire out. The incident was then reported to Herefordshire Council and investigated by officers of the Community Protection team who attended and found piles of dumped green waste, general waste, tyres, white goods, scrap metal, bricks, soil, and rubble around a large area in the ground which had been scraped where a large fire had occurred.

The court further heard that officers re-visited the field on Monday 12 December 2022 where they discovered Shaun Smith present unloading waste from his flatbed vehicle.

Further enquiries revealed that Shaun Smith was a landscaper gardener, trading as ‘Garden and Landscaping Services’ who was unable to provide any documentation as to where he had been disposing of his business waste between the dates of 12 December 2020 and 12 December 2022.

Charles Yarnold, Herefordshire Council’s Head of Regulatory and Technical Services, said: “Fly tipping is a serious environmental hazard and a blight on our beautiful county. Businesses do this to avoid the cost of disposing of their waste lawfully. All businesses must ensure appropriate measures are in place so the waste they produce is disposed of correctly. Businesses must also have documentation to show who they have transferred the waste to and keep those records for at least two years. Anyone found fly tipping waste will be prosecuted."

The maximum penalty for fly tipping is a £50,000 fine and/or 5 years imprisonment.