Bradford litter lout caught throwing waste from moving van

A man has been prosecuted after being seen throwing bags of waste from his moving van onto the roadside.

Nicky Ellis, 41 and of Albert Terrace, Oakenshaw, was tracked down after CCTV cameras recorded footage of him throwing waste onto the side of Staithgate Lane on August 24, 2023. He appeared in court on Thursday, May 16, and pleaded guilty to fly-tipping.

He was ordered to pay more than £1,600 and prosecutors said he had shown a "blatant disregard for the law". A video was shown in court of the van driving down the road, as bags of waste were thrown out one at a time. Some of the bags roll back down onto the road, dropping waste as they go.

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Ellis initially told the investigators he had stopped at the roadside to urinate, but had forgot to close the van door, leading to the ten bags of waster falling out. Wassim Raja, prosecuting on behalf of Bradford Council, told the court: "The fly tipping was captured on CCTV.

"The environmental health team had the registration of the vehicle and tracked it back to a company in Slough, who provided details of who the driver was at the time." Ellis, who works as a gas engineer, was then interviewed. Mr Raja added: "He said he had stopped to urinate, and left the side door open by mistake.

"He said he didn’t know the side door was open, and the waste must have fallen out as he drove along the road. He denied it was his intention to throw anything. What he said was not consistent with what the CCTV shows.

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"I counted 10 bags being thrown out, and you can see a hand pushing one bag out at some point. After being shown the CCTV he accepts someone was throwing bags out of the van.

"He says he was full of remorse and he won’t do it again, but you can’t get away from the fact that this was blatant, and it was a series of bags thrown out. The remnants of the bags were spread out all over the road. It was a blatant disregard for the law."

Ellis, who was representing himself, said he was disposing of the waste as a favour to a relative. He added: "I’m not making excuses – I’ve got a past, I’ve been in prison. I’ve tried to change my life around.

"I know I’ve done wrong. I said I’ll pay for any damage." Magistrates gave Ellis a fine of £727 and ordered him to pay a £291 surcharge and £658 costs.