Litter Bug Prosecuted

A TRIMSARAN man has been prosecuted after being filmed throwing litter out of his car and into a river.

Mark Bevan was caught on CCTV throwing a bag of rubbish out of his car window on the C2202 at Bethesda Road, Cwmmawr.

Ammanford Magistrates Court was told that Carmarthenshire County Council environmental officers set up CCTV cameras after receiving complaints from local residents of fly tipping along various sections of Bethesda Road, in particular of carrier bags containing empty beer bottles and cans. These incidents were first recorded in September 2010.

A CCTV Camera was deployed at a specific location on the C2202 Bethesda road, Cwmmawr on May 17 this year. When the footage was reviewed, it was revealed that two offences had occurred at 9:09am on July 19.

The recording showed the driver of a green Rover 200 throwing controlled waste, a white carrier bag, from the vehicle over the bridge wall into the river. CCTV evidence also showed the driver throwing litter from his vehicle.

A site inspection of the bridge area on July 23 revealed that the white carrier bag was still in the river. There are warning signs of ‘No Fly Tipping’ and ‘No Littering’ in the area, due to the levels of fly tipping that were occurring.

The bag of waste was recovered from the river and was found to contain empty beer cans and bottles as well as a food container.

Enquiries revealed that the driver was 46-year-old Mark Bevan and he was interviewed in September when he made a full and thorough confession that he had thrown the bag of waste out of his vehicle into the river and that he also discarded a paper cup from his vehicle.

Bevan, of Waunyclyn, Trimsaran, pleaded guilty to depositing litter and was fined £200 and ordered to pay full costs of £485.26.

Carmarthenshire County Council executive board member for environment Cllr Philip Hughes said: “This case should send a message out to anybody tempted to throw litter out of their car. If there is a problem in a particular area we will set up CCTV cameras, we will catch them and we will prosecute.

“It is not fair to the rest of the people of Carmarthenshire who do their level best to keep the county tidy that a minority of individuals behave like this. We will investigate and we will prosecute.”