A driver was caught on Salford City Council’s CCTV cameras illegally dumping a bag of waste in Thurlow Street, Salford. But when the owner was questioned about the offence he claimed he didn’t know who was driving it at the time because he lent his car to up to ten people every month.
Stephen Joy, unemployed, 42, of Fir Street, Cadishead, pleaded guilty at Manchester and Salford magistrates court on Wednesday, July 27, to one offence of flytipping on land at Thurlow Street, Salford on March 16, contrary to contrary to S33(1) and S33(6) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. He was fined £40, ordered to pay £150 costs and compensation to Salford City Council and a £20 victim surcharge.
The court heard that the council’s CCTV cameras captured Mr Joy’s car in Thurlow Street just before 11pm. The driver got out, took the rubbish out of the boot and threw it onto the street before driving away. When questioned Mr Joy said he had not been driving the car at the time as he had lent it to someone but was unable to provide their name. He said he lent the car to anyone who wanted to borrow it but would now stop this as he didn’t like people dumping rubbish.
Speaking after the case, Councillor David Lancaster, lead member for environment and community safety, said he was disappointed with the fine. “We have waste disposal sites at Cobden Street, Boysnope Wharf, Liverpool Road, Irlam and Lumms Lane so there is no excuse for flytipping whatsoever. We will continue to use every means possible to take action against people who think they can use the streets of Salford as a litter bin,” he said.
The council’s Operation Pandora tackles flytippers through use of CCTV, mobile patrols and using evidence from members of the public. Some 39 offenders have been prosecuted so far, resulting in fines, costs and compensation of more than £39,000.
The council adds that its 129-camera CCTV system helped police make 98 arrests in the first three months of 2016. Arrests were made for criminal damage, assault and pretending to be a taxi driver. And an off-road bike has been seized and crushed after it was spotted on the pavement in Broughton.
The staff has access to police radios to direct officers to incidents they spot on camera and listen to radio traffic to help search areas for wanted and missing people. The unit captured over 700 incidents in January, February and March – almost one per hour. Over 105 pieces of high quality CCTV footage has now been handed to police to be used as evidence and to further investigate incidents.
David Lancaster said: “The cameras record in high definition quality and even have night vision lenses to capture images when it is dark. The cameras have proved their worth over and over again because our team can spot incidents as soon as they start and alert the police while capturing the evidence they need to prosecute.”
The newest cameras in use are Darkfighters, from Hikvision, and the council is upgrading to Hikvision cameras wherever there is a failure with a legacy camera.
