Driving ban, fine and dumped by girlfriend
FLYTIPPER PAYS A HUGE PRICE FOR TIPPING RUBBISH ON ECCLES STREET
IT started as an attempt to impress his girlfriend, but ended in a driving ban, a fine, and being dumped.
Philip Marshall decided to clear up his girlfriend’s new home while she was away as a surprise.
But he used her car without her knowing, and without a driving licence, and left the rubbish on a pavement in Eccles.
He was caught in the act on a business’s CCTV camera.
Council officials traced the car and went to his girlfriend’s address, at which point Mr Marshall confessed he had been driving that day.
Marshall, 46, of Worsley Road, Eccles, pleaded guilty at Manchester Magistrates’ Court to illegally dumping waste on land at Eliza Ann Street.
He was given a 12 month conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of £386 and a £20 victim surcharge on Thursday, November 9. The court also banned him from the wheel for six months for driving without a licence or insurance.
The court heard that the pair are no longer together.
On the day of the offence in April, Marshall was seen to drive up and illegally dump a large cardboard box, a set of step ladders, a Venetian blind and other waste on the pavement around 10.30am.
When traced and asked if he had dumped the waste, he replied: “Unfortunately, I did.”
He said he had been moving ‘bits and bobs’ all week into the bins as his girlfriend had moved into a new home and because the bins were quite full he didn’t know where to put the box.
When asked why he hadn’t taken it and the other items to the tip, he replied: “I don’t know. I just decided to drive around the corner and find a layby and just take it out of the car but I realise now it was stupid of me. I thought I was doing her a favour moving the stuff.
“It shouldn’t have happened and I can’t apologise enough.”
Speaking after the court case, Councillor David Lancaster, lead member for environment and community safety, said: “This is the first time I’ve seen the courts hand down a driving ban for flytipping. I very much welcome that and I hope we see more. There is no excuse for dumping rubbish.”