Van driver fined £300 for carrying a bag of rubbish

A VAN driver has been fined £300 for “carrying rubbish without permission” after sandwich wrappers and crisp packets were found inside his work vehicle.

Roofing contractor Stewart Gosling, 43, was punished with the on-the-spot penalty over the rubbish, which he kept in a plastic commercial waste bag in the back of his van.

When workers from Waltham Forest council, in east London, carried out spot checks at the roadside on May 23 they told Mr Gosling that he was breaking the law by carrying the rubbish without permission.

Mr Gosling, from Cheshunt, Herts, said: “It’s so infuriating. The workingclass man gets penalised for going to work, basically.

“I’ve not fly-tipped. I’ve not left it in someone’s garden.”

A council spokesman said: “The waste in this case was being transported in a commercial refuse bag in the trader’s vehicle.

“Regardless of what the items are, if waste is being stored in a commercial refuse bag in a trader’s van it is necessary that they have a valid waste-carriers’ licence.”