A decorator who fly-tipped 20 bags of building waste in a Croydon lane has been sentenced to community service and ordered to pay £3,300 as one of eight successful council prosecutions on Tuesday.
Magistrates ordered the eight offenders to pay a total of £6,700 in fines and court costs for the offences, ranging from illegally dumping business waste to urinating in the street. The council has now successfully prosecuted 80 people in court under its Don’t Mess With Croydon – Take Pride campaign.
Tuesday’s biggest sentence of 120 hours’ unpaid community service and £3,300 in overall costs was handed to Daniel Pierre, aged 29, of Amesbury Avenue in Streatham, whose business Dinerowork Ltd was caught after dumping building waste on a grass verge beside Old Lodge Lane in Purley on 20-21 March. Pierre’s four charges were failing to prove he was a registered waste carrier, not providing waste transfer notes, failure to attend an interview under caution and knowingly causing or permitting waste to be illegally deposited.
Two of Tuesday’s prosecutions were against an estate agents and a food importing business for separate commercial waste fly-tipping, while other offenders had dumped materials ranging from black sacks of rubbish to wooden planks and a chair.
The Don’t Mess With Croydon – Take Pride campaign combines getting local people to become community champions with enforcement against the worst offences. As well as prosecuting people in court and handing out over 800 fixed penalty fines, since launching the initiative in summer 2014 the council has also signed up over 280 community champions who lead litter picks, carried out more than 1,320 business licence inspections and encouraged over 240 businesses to sign a pledge to keep their street tidier.
In addition to Daniel Pierre, Tuesday’s prosecutions were:
• Milton Howlett, from Beulah Road in Thornton Heath, was ordered to pay a total of £1,040 as both an individual and director of Doctor Bird Global Food Importers Ltd for dumping oil drums, black bin liners and cardboard in Beulah Road on 22 October.
• Haart Estate Agents, of Brigstock Road in Thornton Heath, was ordered to pay a total of £685 for fly-tipping black sacks of business waste on the pavement in Melfort Road on 29 October.
• Joao Soares Da Costa, aged 47, from Kynaston Crescent in Thornton Heath, was ordered to pay a total of £355 for urinating on the pavement in Beulah Road on 23 October.
• Jenny Kimoto, from Whitehorse Lane in Selhurst, was ordered to pay a total of £355 for dumping cardboard boxes in Egerton Road on 5 October.
• Noreen Chambers, of Burlington Road in Thornton Heath, was ordered to pay a total of £355 for fly-tipping wooden planks and black sacks next to a bus stop in Beulah Road on 22 October.
• Ayisha Chaudhury, of London Road in West Croydon, was ordered to pay a total of £355 for littering a broken chair and a cardboard box in London Road on 23 November.
• Susan Scott, of Gunnell Close in Woodside, was ordered to pay a total of £255 for dropping a cigarette in Bedford Park on 28 October.
“It’s great so many residents have become street champions and more businesses are taking pride in their area, but these latest cases show there are still plenty of people prepared to flout the law.
“Whether you’re dumping your own rubbish or letting someone else do your dirty work illegally, it all blights our borough and this council will continue to take court action whenever we need to.”
Councillor Stuart Collins, deputy leader – Clean Green Croydon
Any resident or business found to have fly-tipped or used an unlicensed waste carrier faces unlimited fines and a possible court conviction. For more information on how to get involved in the Don’t Mess With Croydon – Take Pride campaign, visit: https://www.croydon.gov.uk/environment/dontmess/dont-mess
You can also report dumped waste via the council’s dedicated fly-tipping hotline on 0208 604 7000, the council’s My Croydon smartphone app or by emailing flytip@croydon.gov.uk
