Herefordshire Council has won an enforcement case against a man found guilty of fly tipping and failing in his duty of care when disposing of six black bags of household waste.

On Thursday January 5 2023, Hereford magistrates heard how in August 2021, a Balfour Beatty employee attended Tidnor Lane in Hereford to remove fly tipping which had been thrown in the hedge way and consisted of six black bags full of household domestic waste.

The employee searched the waste before disposal and found evidence relating to Mr Ben Cox of Kernal Road, Hereford, and the matter was referred to enforcement officers from Herefordshire Council’s Community Protection team.

Ben Cox initially told officers that he had paid somebody to take his waste away but then refused to assist the investigation any further and did not attend a scheduled interview. He then failed to appear for his first scheduled court hearing, so Mr Cox was arrested and appeared at Hereford Magistrates court on Thursday 5 January 2023.

At the hearing, Ben Cox told the court that he had fly tipped the household waste on Tidnor Lane because he had not put his waste out for collection in time and did not want to leave the waste sitting at his property for another two weeks because it was full of maggots.

He pleaded guilty to fly tipping and failing in his duty of care, and was ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £2134.

Marc Willimont, the council’s head of public protection, says: “This is a clear case where an individual simply dumps his rubbish on a public highway because he could not be bothered to either bag it up for the next refuse collection or take it to the nearest household waste site. He then lied about the reasons and did not cooperate any further in our enquiries, leading to his arrest.

“Fly-tipping costs council tax payers tens of thousands of pounds each year and anyone found will always be prosecuted - this case is a clear example of what will happen when the Council traces the waste back.”

The maximum penalty for fly-tipping is a £50,000 fine and/ or five years imprisonment.

The council's community protection team will investigate unlawful waste disposal and fly-tipping cases reported via the council’s website or by calling 01432 261761.