Woman fined more than £800 after rubbish dumped

A Canterbury woman who dumped rubbish in Bekesbourne Lane, Canterbury, has been found guilty of the offence at court in her absence and fined a total of £816.

Madalina Petre, of Rutland Close, Canterbury, failed to attend Margate Magistrates’ Court on 31 October 2024.

The court was told that the flytipping incident occurred in Bekesbourne Lane on or around 19 October 2023.

City council Environmental Crime Officers began investigating and evidence was found linking the fly tip to Ms Petre. However, despite efforts by officers, she ignored all requests to assist with enquiries.

The case proceeded to court, but without reasonable excuse, Ms Petre failed to comply with a requirement made under s108(4)(K) of the Environment Act 1995, to produce documents that were necessary for the purposes of the investigation as to whether any provision of the pollution control enactments had been complied with, contrary to S110(2)(a) Environment Act 1995.

Ms Petre was fined £440, with a surcharge of £176 and the costs of the council’s prosecution of £200 – a total of £816.

Cabinet member for enforcement, Cllr Connie Nolan, said: “I would like to thank our officers for their hard work in seeing this case all the way to court and to what was ultimately a successful outcome.

“Ms Petre had a brazen disregard for the local environment when dumping this rubbish out in the countryside and then showed no interest in engaging with our investigating officers. Burying your head in the sand and hoping it goes away is just not the way to handle matters.

“Investigating flytipping offences is a priority for this council, so anybody even contemplating such action should think again immediately, as the chances are we’ll be on your case and you’ll pay the price for it.”

Published: 11 November 2024