Plymouth man fined £3,600 for fly-tipping
Daniel Goldstone dumped items including a fridge-freezer and a fish tank
A Plymouth man has been ordered to pay £3,600 in fines and costs after being taken to court by Plymouth City Council for fly-tipping offences and also operating without a scrap metal licence.
Daniel Goldstone of Barne Road pleaded guilty to four offences at Plymouth magistrates relating to charges of not keeping records of waste and of collecting scrap metal without a licence over a three month period from January 2020. He was also found guilty in court of a fifth offence of depositing controlled waste, or knowingly causing or permitting controlled waste to be deposited.
In total the 40 year old was fined £606 and also ordered to pay £2,900 costs and a victim surcharge of £95. He was also given a 12 month community order including 15 rehabilitation days and 150 hours of unpaid community work.
Council officers found a fridge-freezer, fish tank, black bags of refuse and a cardboard box dumped in a lay-by on the B3362 between the junction for Tuell Down and Lamerton near Dartmoor. Using an address found on the box, officers were able to trace the waste back to Goldstone who had been paid to dispose of waste from a residential address. In total Goldstone was found guilty of three separate offences of not keeping written descriptions of waste, known as waste transfer notes, relating to specific loads of waste he had collected.
The court also heard that despite being advised by the council that he needed a scrap metal licence, Goldstone continued to operate his business illegally for three months. During this time, he deposited scrap metal to the value of £2,021.95. Introduced to curtail criminal activity, the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 says dealers must legally be licensed and keep records of what they collect and who they deal with. The Act also makes it an offence for any scrap metal dealer, including collectors, to buy scrap metal for cash.
Councillor Sally Haydon, the Cabinet Member for Customer Focus and Community Safety said:
“We will stamp down hard on fly-tipping which is anti-social in the extreme and a blight on our community. This conviction should send a message we mean business and won’t hesitate to prosecute anyone found to be illegally handling or dumping waste. Fly-tipping not ruins our streets and beauty spots but is a total waste of tax-payer money.
“Also, there are no excuses for not being correctly licensed for the collection, storage or sale of commercial and domestic scrap metal. Scrap metal collectors must get a licence or they will be prosecuted. We need to support the legitimate licensed traders who are operating within the law and will investigate and prosecute businesses that don’t stick to the rules.”
There are currently 15 licensed scrap metal sites in Plymouth and 12 mobile licensed collectors.