Two men from Bristol have been fined more than £1,500 in total after being convicted for waste-related offences. Their convictions at Bristol Magistrates Court followed investigations into separate incidents of fly-tipping by South Gloucestershire Council’s environmental crime team.
Luke Sherratt pleaded guilty to fly-tipping and was fined a total of £940 following the discovery of household furniture, wood panelling, a fridge freezer and general household waste at Love Lane in Easter Compton on April 27, 2022. The large fly-tip was examined and correspondence relating to an address in Shirehampton, and another in Weston-Super-Mare was found.
In a statement, the council said: "During the investigation, council envirocrime officers discovered Sherratt, 26, had been in contact with a couple in West-Super-Mare via Facebook Marketplace, and had arranged to collect and dispose of waste from their address for the payment of £60.
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"Sherratt, of Grainger Court, Shirehampton, was subsequently interviewed and admitted collecting the waste from the address for payment. He claimed he had left the waste in the back of his van for a week before the fly-tip was discovered.
"It was also revealed that Sherratt was an unlicenced driver and hadn’t passed his test."
The council said that Fatjet Kondranjeci was fined a total of £749 following the discovery three black bags of waste and used car wash materials at Bury Hill Lane, Yate on October 21, 2021.
A letter in the black bags led evirocrime officers to visit a hand car wash in Brislington where Kondranjeci, 26, was working. He informed officers that he had been responsible for disposing of the waste and had contacted someone through Facebook Marketplace to remove it.
The council said that Kondranjeci, of Brislington Hill Square, Brislington, was invited for interview at which he acknowledged that he had made no attempt to verify the person removing the waste was legally entitled to do so. He was unable to provide the details of the business who removed the waste, claiming not to have taken them.
Councillor Rachael Hunt, cabinet member for communities said: “I am delighted that justice has been served in respect of these two cases as it is yet more proof of our unrelenting commitment to track fly-tippers down and bring them before the courts.
“We have a zero-tolerance approach to fly-tipping and have a 100 per cent success rate for securing convictions for this type of offence. Anyone who fly-tips in South Gloucestershire is five times more likely to be prosecuted than anywhere else in the country.
“We are all accountable for disposing of our waste in a responsible and lawful manner and if you hire a company to dispose of your waste, it is your responsibility to ensure they have the relevant waste carrier licences, or you could find yourself in court.”
Unwanted goods and household or garden waste can all be disposed of at no cost via the council’s Sort IT! * Centres https://beta.southglos.gov.uk/recycling-centres
Residents who see illegal fly tipping are encouraged to report it by contacting the StreetCare helpdesk on 01454 868000, emailing streetcare@southglos.gov.uk or visiting www.southglos.gov.uk/flytipping
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