Four people fined more than £2,800 for ignoring council notices on rubbish

Sarah Bayles, 31, of Collingwood Street in Hebburn, was fined £1,000 after magistrates found the case against her proved in her absence.

The court was told that a sofa and bagged waste was found at Waterside Park near Hebburn Riverside. A letter found inside the waste was traced back to the defendant and a notice was served requiring her to attend an interview.

However, in choosing to ignore the notice she committed an offence under Section 110 of the Environment Act 1995. Magistrates also ordered her to pay a victim surcharge of £100 and costs of £100.

Magistrates were also told a substantial quantity of waste had been found in Leighton Street, South Shields.

The waste was traced back to 53-year-old Alan Fox, of Leighton Street, and notices were served requiring him to attend an interview about the dumped waste.

However, he made no attempt to contact the council and the court fined him £750, with a victim surcharge of £75 and costs of £100.

Deborah Wallace, 48, was fined £660 after magistrates ruled that the case against her was proved.

They were told a quantity of domestic waste was abandoned in Slake Road in Jarrow. The waste was traced back to Wallace, of Saxon Way in Jarrow, and notices were served but she ignored them. In addition to the fine, she was ordered to pay costs of £100 and a victim surcharge of £66.

Magistrates ordered Dhermesh Patel to pay a total of £971 after he pleaded guilty to an offence under the Prevention of Damage by Pests Act 1949.

The court was told that notices were sent to him to clear the yard at his premises of Drunk Cakes and Shakes in Percy Terrace in Whitburn or to arrange for the yard to be cleared.

However, neither Mr Patel nor his tenants arranged for the refuse to be removed. In his defence, he admitted in a letter to the court that he should have contacted the Council.

Magistrates fined him £440 and ordered him to pay a victim surcharge of £44, costs of £100 and to compensate the Council in the sum of £387 which the Council had paid to have the yard cleared.

A South Tyneside Borough Council spokesman said: "It is utterly unacceptable for a tiny minority of people to illegally dump their rubbish in this way.

"The council already spends more than £2million a year keeping the borough clean and tidy and offences of this sort simply place an additional burden on taxpayers who ultimately bear the cost of removing the waste and investigating these offences."

Anyone with any information about fly-tipping is asked to report it by calling (0191) 427 7000.

For further information about the many ways waste can be safely responsibly disposed of in South Tyneside visit www.southtyneside.gov.uk/wasteandrecycling