The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Farmer on hunt for fly-tipping ‘man in a van’
ANGER: Council under fire for ‘doing nothing’ with evidence
An Angus farmer turned detective to discover a fly-tipped kitchen had been stripped from a recently sold house 12 miles away.
Cabinets, tiles and flooring were left on land at Burnside, near Letham, in July, but the careless crook who dumped the load also left behind a label with the address of the Carnoustie property it had come from.
Estate director Norman Ogg’s investigation quickly uncovered a photograph of the kitchen on a property website’s particulars for the house.
He is now involved in a battle with the property owner over finding out the details of the Facebook “man with a van” who the householder hired to dispose of the kitchen.
Mr Ogg has slated Angus Council for a lack of action in the case.
“Farmers have to pick up the bill for flytipping on private land, but when you provide the council with all the evidence they need it seems they do nothing,” said Mr Ogg.
An Angus farmer turned detective and traced a kitchen that had been dumped on his land to a property listing on a local solicitor’s website.
Norman Ogg was furious to find kitchen flooring, cabinets and tiles at the entrance to one of his fields this summer.
It was the latest in a series of dumping incidents to hit the Burnside estate near Forfar but this time the offenders had left a crucial piece of evidence behind.
An online search of an address label found in the rubbish led Mr Ogg to a property website where the Carnoustie house had been recently advertised – complete with photographs of the kitchen left lying on the land.
Mr Ogg is now locked in a dispute with the new owner of the house to recover hundreds of pounds in clean-up costs and has criticised Angus Council for failing to swiftly pursue the crime.
The householder has not denied the kitchen came from his property but has
“Fly-tipping is a huge problem for farmers all over and we are always left to pick up the bill. FARMER NORMAN OGG
been unable to provide details of the “man with a van” he found on Facebook and paid to take the rubbish away.
Mr Ogg said: “Fly-tipping is a huge problem for farmers all over and we are always left to pick up the bill because it is on private land.
“This man hasn’t denied it came from his house, and I’ve since spoken to another farmer from near Carnoustie who had stuff from the utility room from the same house dumped on his land.
“The council repeatedly ask people to report fly-tipping to try to help them track down the culprits, yet when you give them everything they need they still do nothing.
“There are often no clues or any proof, but this is an opportunity for them to take up a genuine case and get the message out there that they will take action on fly-tipping.
“I am fuming that the council are doing nothing about this when they were presented with all the information they needed so soon after it happened,” he added.
The householder did not want to comment on the issue due to the prospect of it becoming a legal matter.
Angus Council was also reluctant to weigh in.
A spokesman said: “As this matter is subject to an ongoing investigation it is not appropriate to comment further at this time.”