Dumping trees at side of road costs fly-tipper £1,800
A man has been fined £400 and ordered to pay over £1,800 overall after pleading guilty to dumping a large pile of trees in South Staffordshire.
Dilpreet Singh Khatria, from Fairdale Garden in Hayes, Middlesex, drove to Mill Lane in Saredon on April 16 last year and then dumped some conifer trees.
The 33-year-old was traced and later interviewed by South Staffordshire District Council's environment officers after the incident involving his pick-up truck.
Khatria stated in court he believed he had been allowed to leave the trees there – and that he had done so while renovating a house in Wolverhampton, for which he was commuting from London.
He added the reason for the fly-tipping was needing to rush home to his heavily-pregnant wife, from whom he had received a call – but did accept the act was his mistake.
Khatria appeared at Newcastle under Lyme Magistrates Court on Monday and pleaded guilty to a fly-tipping offence. He was made to pay a total of £1,830, £400 of which was a fine (reduced due to his early guilty plea), £250 for clean-up costs, and £1,140 for prosecution and investigation costs. The total amount also included a £40 victim surcharge.
Councillor Roger Lees, leader of the council, said: "This prosecution sends out a strong message that South Staffordshire Council will not tolerate environmental crime in our district.
“We are absolutely committed to taking robust action against those who blight our area with these types of offences.
“In 2022, South Staffordshire Council spent almost £103,000 clearing up fly-tipping and we hope that court results like this will deter people from committing such irresponsible and criminal behaviour."
