Birmingham Post

Man who took cash to dispose of waste just dumped it

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A SERIAL fly tipper was paid to dispose of items during the pandemic, but was caught repeatedly dumping waste on Wolverhamp­ton streets.

John Sheridan admitted six counts of fly tipping at locations across Bushbury during a hearing at Dudley Magistrate­s Court.

Sheridan, of Broome Road, dumped household waste, furniture and building materials and was given a community order for 12 months with a requiremen­t to carry out 150 hours unpaid work.

Magistrate­s also imposed a

£95 victim surcharge and awarded the council costs of £3,000.

Sheridan used a Transit van to dump the rubbish in a variety of locations, including outside the London Midland Railway Club in Bushbury Lane, in Cross Street North, Showell Road, Coxwell Avenue and twice in Shaw Road.

He was taking money from people to remove their waste during the early days of the coronaviru­s pandemic and first lockdown. The items were dumped between April 9 and May 11, 2020.

Sheridan was caught through a combinatio­n of Wolverhamp­ton Council CCTV, private security cameras and witnesses.

Once the registrati­on plate of the transit van was identified, officers from the council’s Environmen­tal Crimes team were able to find a registered address and seize the vehicle, which was loaded with waste.

Fly tipping costs taxpayers more than £260,000 per year in Wolverhamp­ton and officers attend an average of 12 fly tips every day, ranging from individual items to large scale fly tipping.

The costs awarded to the council in this recent case will be reinvested back into the Environmen­tal Crime service, helping to bring people to justice who fail to dispose of their waste correctly.

Councillor Steve Evans, cabinet member for city environmen­t and climate change at Wolverhamp­ton Council, said: “Fly tipping has always been a priority for the council and one that we continuall­y work hard to tackle.

“We know it’s a national issue, but we also know how it makes local people feel when others thoughtles­sly dump dirty rubbish in areas where they live and work. I’m delighted that we’ve been able to bring this case to court and that there has been such a positive outcome.

“In addition, with the launch of our new crackdown, we are sending a strong message to fly tippers. We will take all the necessary measures to stop this criminal behaviour and keep Wolverhamp­ton - and its local neighbourh­oods and streets - clean and attractive.”

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