£500 fine after fly-tipper leaves clue to address

A borough resident has been hit with a £500 fine after a council official turned sleuth over a pile of rubbish fly-tipped on an Erewash footpath.

The authority sent a neighbourhood warden to investigate after users of the path on Ilkeston’s Manners Industrial Estate reported the old clothes and bags of waste.

The officer rifled through the rubbish – bizarrely dumped yards from the borough’s recycling centre – for clues to where it came from.

The investigation led to an address in the town. The female resident was no longer there but further inquiries revealed where she had moved to.

The woman claimed after being given a caution that she asked a family member to get rid of the waste for her. She refused to identify the relative – and chose to accept a £500 fixed penalty notice as an alternative to prosecution.

Lead Member for the Environment, Cllr Mark Alfrey said of the costly lesson: “The [borough] council is determined to crack down on fly-tipping as we work hard to improve the borough. It is up to residents to ensure their rubbish is disposed of properly.

“That extends to people verifying that any waste removal firms they hire are not cowboys.”