A woman has been fined more than £400 – after paying for someone to dispose of her rubbish.
Tyler Marie Richards employed them to remove a pile of 20 bin bags from her property in Bridge Street, Tonypandy.
The mountain of waste included a plastic kennel, 15 of general rubbish, four recycling bags, a cardboard box and a pile of general loose garbage.
But she was left horrified when she was tracked down after the sea of waste was discovered strewn across the residential area of Penrhys in Ronda Cynon Taf.
Ms Richards then failed to engage with Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council’s enforcement officers – and the local authority decided to take court action against her, WalesOnline reports.
And she was fined £120 alongside clean-up costs of £255.51 and a victim surcharge of £48 after she was found guilty of failing to control her waste and committing an offence under Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
In total she was fined a stunning £423.51 – despite not fly-tipping any rubbish herself.
But the furious council blasted Ms Richards furiously telling the newspaper that ‘fly-tipping will not be tolerated, ever’.
The mountain of waste included a plastic kennel, 15 of general rubbish, four recycling bags, a cardboard box and a pile of general loose garbage
Councillor Ann Crimmings said: ‘There is never an excuse to blight our, towns, lanes, streets and villages with waste, and we will find those responsible and hold them to account.
‘If your waste is fly tipped, you could be fined along with the individual or company you paid to remove it.
‘We will use every power available to us to hold those accountable for their actions.’
Official figures recently suggested flytipping in England has risen to its highest level in almost 20 years.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed vowed to toughen up enforcement after reported cases of illegal dumping passed 1.15million in 2023-2024.
The figure is an increase of six per cent from the 1.08million the previous year and the highest level in the six years since the current method for reporting was brought in.
The statistics also revealed a year-on-year fall in the number of fixed penalty notices issued for flytipping and a decline in the number of court-issued fines.
Analysis of the data revealed London as a major hotspot, with eight boroughs in the top 10 local authorities for overall dumping and the highest proportion by population.
The London Borough of Croydon was said to be the flytipping capital of the UK with 35,470 recorded incidents, according to an analysis of government data published covering the period from April 2023 to March 2024.
Across England, the scourge of fly-tipping represnted a 6.2 per cent increase on the previous year and the second consecutive annual rise recorded.
Nottingham and Liverpool were also included in the top 10, with other places towards the highest levels being Birmingham and Bradford.
Last year some 60 per cent of cases involved household waste, with 688,000 incidents of illegally dumped rubbish from homes – ranging from black bags of waste to the contents of shed clearances, furniture, carpets and DIY.
The most common places for flytipping to occur were on pavements and roads, accounting for 37 per cent of incidents.
Almost one third, or 31 per cent, of incidents were the size of a small van load.
And another 28 per cent amounted to the equivalent of a car boot or less of rubbish.
Meanwhile, four per cent were the size of a tipper lorry load or bigger.
Large flytipping incidents have cost £13.1million for local authorities to clean up, research showed.
Mr Reed has said: ‘Flytipping is a disgraceful act which trashes communities and its increase is unacceptable. Communities and businesses shouldn’t have to put up with these crimes.
‘This Government will crack down on fly tipping and punish rubbish dumpers, forcing them to clean up their mess.’
