Yahoo News Man fined almost £1,300 after being caught dumping nitrous oxide containers after 'house party'
A Bristol man has been ordered to pay fines of almost £1,300 after he was caught dumping a bag of nitrous oxide containers in a hedge after a house party. Jack Roberts, 21, of Lodge Causeway in Bristol, appeared at Bristol Magistrates Court on Monday, April 29.
He pleaded guilty to fly-tipping and was handed a £666 fine, ordered to pay £366 in costs and a £266 victim surcharge, making a total of £1,298.The court heard that on September 24 last year South Gloucestershire Council received a report of a fly-tip in a hedgerow on Victoria Road, Warmley.
Council operatives cleared away the fly-tip, which consisted of a large blue bag full of empty commercial nitrous oxide catering containers. The offence was captured on a resident's home CCTV, with two offenders using a Volkswagen Transporter van to commit the offence.
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The vehicle's registration was visible in the footage and the council's environmental enforcement officers contacted the company that owned the van, which confirmed that employee Jack Roberts was the permitted driver on the day of the offence.
Roberts attended the council's Yate offices for a voluntary interview in January. During the interview he was shown video footage of the waste being dumped at Victoria Road. Roberts acknowledged that he was the driver of the van in the video footage, and that he was responsible for fly-tipping the waste.
Roberts stated the waste had come from his girlfriend's parents' address nearby following a house party that the parents were not aware of. As they were due back imminently, he panicked and dumped the waste nearby in Victoria Road, with the assistance of an unnamed person.
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Roberts fully accepted responsibility for the offence of fly-tipping, stating it was a spur of the moment act for which he is remorseful. The interview concluded and Roberts was reported for summons.
Robert Evely, environmental enforcement team leader at South Gloucestershire Council, said: "This prosecution will hopefully act as a deterrent to anyone who fails in their duty of care for waste disposal. We all have a responsibility to ensure that our waste is disposed of in a responsible and lawful manner.
"South Gloucestershire Council always pursues fly-tip related prosecutions through the courts and our award-winning environmental enforcement team has a 100 per cent record of securing successful prosecutions for this type of offence."
