Flytipper who dumped knives in a lane hit with a community order

A Neath man has been given a community order after he admitted flytipping household waste in a public lane. Among the waste in the Port Talbot lane was 7 large kitchen knives which were removed by Police Community Support officers.

Martin Andrew Miller, of Neath Road, Briton Ferry pleaded guilty to depositing controlled waste in Port Talbot contrary to Section 33 Environmental Protection Act 1990.

On 24 November 2015, West Glamorgan Magistrates Court heard that the flytip came to light in the late evening of October 21 last year when the complainant’s husband walked into the rear lane of Hospital Road, Port Talbot.

There he saw a large deposit of controlled waste which blocked the lane to traffic. The lane is generally a means of access for both motorists and pedestrians.

As the complainant has a young child and the lane is frequented by youths she was concerned and upset at the presence of the knives and the waste and contacted police.

Two PCSOs attended and made an initial examination of the waste.

Due to the poor lighting conditions at the time they were unable to make a full examination, however, they took immediate steps to remove as many knives as they were able to and placed seven of these in safe storage for transit to Neath Police Station.
Although there was only limited paperwork amongst the waste, an investigation of the matter by the Council’s waste enforcement team led to enquires being made of a Swansea address.

Enquires showed this property to be unoccupied and managed by letting agents.

Further enquires revealed that the owner’s daughter had asked her boyfriend to arrange the removal of the waste, after tenants had left it behind.

Subsequently, he entered into a dialogue via Facebook with 35-year-old Mr Miller who agreed to remove the waste for the sum of £70.

At the time of the incident Mr Miller had two business enterprises, one which dealt in scrap metal and the other described as “don’t bin it give it away”. Mr Miller was also the holder of a waste carriers licence.

In mitigation solicitor Iwan Jeffreys sought credit for his client’s early guilty plea.

He also presented the Court with documentation showing the steps Mr Miller had subsequently taken to ensure waste was disposed of lawfully.

For the offence Mr Miller was given a one-year community order with an unpaid work requirement of 150 hours.

He was also ordered to pay the authorities’ costs of £404.88.

Councillor Ali Thomas OBE, Leader of Neath Port Talbot Council said: “This latest prosecution sends out a clear message to anyone contemplating dumping waste illegally, the Waste Enforcement team takes a zero-tolerance approach to fly tipping.

“As well as being a blight on the landscape and completely unacceptable, it is also costly to clear up rubbish dumped illegally. Residents can be assured that we will take legal action whenever possible to tackle fly tipping. We are determined to keep our communities safe and clean of illegal waste.”