MEN - Thursday wrote:
Crushing victory against fly-tipping menace
Chris Osuh
The 4x4 Mitsubishi Shogun is crushed
A SERIAL fly-tipper has been stopped in his tracks - after officials seized a 4x4 vehicle that he had used and put it through a crusher.
Council chiefs approved the drastic action against the rogue trader suspected of dumping car tyres at various sites around Wigan.
It is the first time officials in Greater Manchester have used tough new powers to tackle fly-tipping and they hope it will send a message to anyone tempted to dump rubbish on public land.
The operation was launched after reports that a contractor was running a lucrative racket where he charged garages cash to dispose of tyres without a licence and then simply dumped them around Wigan to avoid paying tipping fees.
The offender was first spotted at the Spring Bank Industrial Estate last March when a member of the public saw a man driving a Mitsubishi Shogun dumping tyres near the estate in Platt Bridge.
Months later a man in the same vehicle was seen twice in three days dumping tyres on land off Westwood Lane, Ince. Once council staff knew the culprit's registration number a warrant was slapped on it and police speed cameras were used to track its movements.
The tyres dumped on public land
Swoop
Last November, Wigan Council used its powers to seize the vehicle, which would have cost up to £18,000 when new, in a swoop on an address in Leyland, Lancashire.
Officials were satisfied that they could prove the vehicle was involved in the fly-tipping but did not have enough evidence to show who was driving it at the time the rubbish was dumped.
The owner of the car was given the opportunity to come forward with documentation to reclaim his vehicle but he chose not to.
The maximum sentence for fly-tipping is a fine of up to £50,000 or a five-year jail term.
Yesterday the car was put into a crusher at a Bolton breaker's yard and reduced to a mangled heap of metal.
Dave Bithell, of Wigan council, said: "It's the first time we've done this in Wigan but it's been done in a few other cases up and down the country.
"The law allows us to take a vehicle that's been used for fly-tipping. We can seize it to examine it and if it isn't claimed we can destroy the vehicle, as in this case.
"The owner knew where the vehicle was and we believe he may have contacted us before changing his mind. He would need a logbook and proof of insurance cover.
"We will use tactics like this to ram the message home to fly-tippers as and when we need to, because the country has real problems with this type of operation."
The fly-tipping enforcement team is focusing on businesses that use unscrupulous middlemen to get rid of waste on the cheap.
Last year the specially-trained team investigated 400 cases of fly-tipping.
Wildy posted up already for discussion on PH.
OK .. so it's good that they manage to trace the fly tippers. Good perhaps that this person is unable to fly tip for a while.. but then
,. he can always get another car at auction
Perhaps if these were regulated better .. we would not have chavs in chuckaways fly tipping in their uninsured chav mobiles in't first place
But some interesting food for thought here.. they say they used a "speed camera" to trace him. Err.. they only take photo if one pings.. and they can only trace legitimately registered cars .... They must mean CCTV and ANPR cams . Surely some CCTV cams showing the driver fly tipping should have given a clue as to who was driving..
After all .. blippers are convicted of speeding on far flimsier evidence
I have to say I am more supportive of the fly tipper's car being crushed than the poor guy whose car was crushed despite apparent proof of legality.
However, they do not make it easy to dispose of rubbish. I cannot dispose of car parts for our "toy and hobby" at some dumps... but I have an arrangement with a local mechanic to leave old tyres and oil with him to dispose of properly.
We wade in old newspapers and recyclable objects for a week .. and then load the car up for the weekly trek. It defeats "greeny ethic" to do daily
Make most of the fuel used and do the family shop and fun at same time
Wildy places our old unwearables in a fabric recycling skip .. and anything which can be used is either "re-fashioned and created to a new "look" or in case of woollen jumper.. unravelled and re-knit
Or we send to thrift shop .. and buy some other discarded item from someone else at same time.
But it's not easy ..
Once upon a time .. we made do and mended. Now it's cheaper to just replace an old kettle or iron or ironing board.. etc.
and you are also aware that most of this stuff so carefully sorted into various skips goes haphazard thereafter in a rusty old boat bucket to China and creates even more pollution in reality
So .. Wildy saves her jam jars and makes her own chutney and jams :mmmmmmm! Takes her own bag to the farm shop and refills it.. and we have those folding crates in the boot .. and wheel unbagged stuff to the boot and unfold the crates and just load from the trolley.. thus saving on plastic bags. We also find food keeps better in old fashioned re-usable strong brown paper .. as it allows for "veg sweats" in the larder.
So.. for all our petrolheadedness.. I think we do compensate back our dues to the planet
But.. they sure do not make it easy.. and the green bandwagon has been hijacked by the fleecers .. which creates the crime of fly tipping
Methinks society creates and re-creates its own woes and destruction A bit of common sense by everyone on this earth .. an ounce of this stuff.. and we can all live nice lives ... in the fast lane
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