Fly-tippers get taken to cleaners at court
‘UNSCRUPULOUS’ fly-tippers have been ordered to pay thousands of pounds for illegally collecting waste which was later found dumped.
John McDonagh was hauled into court after a large pile of rubbish was found near a primary school in Bradford, east Manchester.
Mohit Sood was caught after more than a dozen bags of waste were found in an alleyway in Gorton.
They were both prosecuted by council investigators in separate operations and both admitted flytipping offences.
Sood, 27, from Oldham, was ordered to pay £1,890, while McDonagh’s penalty was £600.
Both also admitted they did not have licences to transport waste.
Sood was caught out after 15 bags of waste were found by the Environmental Crimes team in a Gorton alleyway, between Friendship Avenue and Hyde Road.
A Stockport resident linked to the rubbish had responded to his advert, on the now discontinued website justmanvan.co.uk, and was charged £100 for rubbish and two wooden chairs to be taken away.
Sood, of Repton Avenue, Oldham, initially denied involvement in the fly-tipping but pleaded guilty to the offence on March 29 at Manchester Magistrates’ Court.
He was fined £920 and ordered to pay costs of £878, plus a £92 victim surcharge – a total of £1,890.
McDonagh, 25, was prosecuted after a large amount of waste was dumped at a site close to Ashbury Meadow Primary School in Bradford. The waste was linked to two separate addresses who had paid ‘Jonathan Symth’ from Facebook, a pseudonym for McDonagh, fees of £65 and £90.
McDonagh, of Broxton Street, Ancoats, and also of Riverside Caravan Park, Queensferry, initially pleaded not guilty to the fly-tipping offence at a hearing at Manchester Magistrates’ Court in December 2017.
But he changed his plea in April, this year, and admitted to an offence of knowingly causing fly-tipping to occur. McDonagh claimed that he had passed on the rubbish to a third party before it was found dumped, but refused to give any more details.
He was fined £270 and ordered to pay £300 costs and a £30 victim surcharge – a total of £600.
Fiona Worrall, director of Neighbourhoods at Manchester council, said: “We’re pleased that these two unscrupulous individuals have been punished for taking waste from households that ended up being dumped in Manchester neighbourhoods.
“I’d also like to thank the residents who provided information which was crucial in bringing them to justice.
“If you see an online offer to dispose of your rubbish which looks ‘too good to be true,’ remember that unlicensed waste carriers like Sood and McDonagh often end up fly-tipping the rubbish they’re paid to take away.”