Director fined for fly-tipping
A company director is more than £3,000 out of pocket after failing to explain why rubbish collected by his firm ended up dumped on a public right of way.
Casey Embleton, of Pendle Close, Washington, did not respond to repeated requests for information during the investigation.
He also failed to produce official documentation relating to his waste licence or to appear in court.
Casey, a director of ACC House and Rubbish Removals, also of Washington, now owes £3,320 in fines and costs.
The household waste was dumped on a public right of way used by walkers and cyclists in the Leam Court area of Leam Lane, Gateshead, earlier this year.
Officers from Gateshead Council’s environmental enforcement team launched the investigation and traced the rubbish back to addresses in Gateshead and South Tyneside.
Residents there confirmed that their waste had been collected by Embleton’s firm.
He was then contacted so he could give his account of how the waste had ended up in Leam Court and was summonsed to Gateshead Magistrates’ Court after failing to respond.
Embleton faced charges of failing to produce waste transfer notices contrary to the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and failing to produce a waste carrier’s licence contrary to the Control of Pollution Act 1989.
Magistrates fined him £1,500 for each of the two counts and ordered him to pay £200 costs and a £120 victim surcharge.
Mr Embleton failed to attend court to answer the charges and was found guilty in his absence.
Anneliese Hutchinson, the council’s service director for development, transport and public protection, said: “It is reassuring that Gateshead’s magistrates continue to take a serious view of companies that flout the law in this way.”